Two Cornea and Tissue Recipients and 17 Tissue Donors to Represent the Healing Power of Cornea and Tissue Donation at the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® Float

AZUSA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One 3-time cornea recipient, one tissue recipient and 17 cornea and tissue donors will be honored on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float, which will ride down the streets of Pasadena during the iconic Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day.

The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float, Let Your Life Soar, is the centerpiece of a regional and national effort to reach millions of people who watch the Rose Parade with the important message that organ, eye and tissue donation saves and heals lives. The two tissue recipients, along with 17 floral portraits or floragraphs of cornea and tissue donors, represent the healing and transformational power of tissue donation.

“Cornea and tissue donors can transform and improve the lives of millions of people every year,” said Tom Mone, Chief External Affairs Officer at OneLegacy and OneLegacy Donate Life float’s Co-Chair. “We look forward to sharing the important message of saying 'YES' to tissue donation with the world at the Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day.”

More than 75 lives can be improved with the gift of tissues from one single donor. Tissues that are crucial to save lives and help heal and restore mobility include heart valves, skin grafts for burn survivors, bone, ligament and nerve allografts. Each year, approximately 58,000 tissue donors provide lifesaving and healing tissue for transplant. Approximately 2.5 million tissue transplants are performed every year.

The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Float cornea and tissue recipients include:

• Jessica Horton, honored by OneLegacy: Diagnosed with congenital glaucoma at six weeks old, Jessica’s doctors predicted that she would experience complete blindness after she lost her left eye. Despite this prediction, Jessica kept the vision in her right eye well into her twenties. A few days before her 31st birthday, Jessica learned she was a candidate for a cornea transplant. She was moved to tears knowing she could regain her vision and could finally see again. This gift of sight changed her life completely. Jessica was soon able to return to work, all thanks to her donor family and their precious gift of sight. She could also later see her two beautiful daughters, who are the light of her life. As of today, Jessica has received two additional corneal transplants.

• Michael Rizzo, honored by NJ Sharing Network with MTF Biologics: Michael Rizzo has dedicated his life to serving others as a paramedic and police officer. Two decades ago, his commitment to public service was challenged when an arm fracture threatened to end his career. Thanks to the generosity of a tissue donor, Michael's arm was successfully reconstructed, allowing him to continue saving and protecting lives. Years later, Michael was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. A successful heart transplant gave Michael a second chance at life.

According to the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), in 2023, over 50,925 people in the United States received a cornea transplant, with eye banks providing tissue for more than 78,000 sight-restoring corneal transplants globally.

17 cornea and tissue donors healed the lives of over one thousand children and adults. These donors are going to be honored on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float with a floral portrait or floragraph.

Celebrating 22 years of participation in the traditional Rose Parade® New Year’s Day celebrations, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® Float is the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation and to deliver the simple and powerful message that donation saves and heals lives. The 2025 float would not be possible without the help of more than 20 sponsors, including organ procurement organizations, transplant centers, hospitals, community partners and organ, eye and tissue donation advocacy organizations.

To learn more about the OneLegacy Donate Life float, visit onelegacyfloat.org.