Orange County residents to be honored on Donate Life float at Rose Parade

Growing up in an age without a DVR, Yadira Ortega and her brother, Ricardo, would wake up early to watch the Rose Parade.

Thanks to family, and to scientific innovation, today Ricardo can still get out of bed, and he will have much to be grateful for when he attends the parade in person for the first time. He will be a rider on one of the floats.

Ricardo got a second chance at life when his sister donated her kidney and stem cells. He said the operation took place April 26, 2021, and he received the stem cells about a week later. A year later, Ricardo was off all medications.

A floragraph portrait of late organ donor Barbara Schmit is pasted onto the tail of a Chinese dragon. The portrait of Barbara is made up of cream of wheat, cinnamon, coffee, rice, millet grain and statice flowers.

(James Carbone)

From a family of seven children, Yadira explained that everyone was lining up to help Ricardo when doctors said he needed a new kidney, and she happened to be the first to come back as a match. The 37-year-old Anaheim resident will walk alongside the Donate Life float, which will honor 59 organ, eye and tissue donors and recipients during the Rose Parade on Monday in Pasadena.

“It’s been an honor to be able to participate in this,” Yadira said. “I’ve heard the stories of [individuals] whose family members donated their organs after they died, and they’re heroes. I’ve heard of so many lives being improved because of that.

“I’m just honored to be there because I don’t feel like I did much. I feel like the recipients are the ones that suffered through all the processes of being diagnosed and going through all the hardship, so I’m just honored to be there.”

The cast of a Chinese dragon is ready to be flowered for Donate Life’s “Lifting Each Other Up” float for the Rose Parade at Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale on Thursday.

(James Carbone)

Ricardo, 33, of Bellflower, sees it differently. After the scare of being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2017, then being placed on dialysis heading into the coronavirus pandemic, he is relieved to have more time with his wife and kids.

“My sister, she thinks of me as the hero because I received the kidney and I got a second chance at life, but she’s the hero to me,” Ricardo said. “Everything she went through — the testing, donated her kidney, and then donated her stem cells — so much gratefulness [for] her. No matter how much time I could give her thanks, I can’t repay her for what she’s done for me.”

The siblings participated in stem cell research through UCLA, Tom Mone, chief external affairs officer for OneLegacy, said. OneLegacy is an organ procurement organization that serves seven counties in Southern California.

Tom Mone, the chief external affairs officer of OneLegacy, poses with Donate Life’s “Lifting Each Other Up” float on Thursday.

(James Carbone)

“He doesn’t have to be on immunosuppression,” Mone said. “This was a trial that the OneLegacy Foundation funded with UCLA as a research trial and is now the No. 1 program in the country in doing this. They were the fifth case, and so it’s a story of love, but it’s also a story of incredible scientific innovation.”

The Donate Life float will carry the theme “Lifting Each Other Up.” It features a dragon, symbolizing abundance and prosperity. The body of the mythical creature will feature 39 floragraphs, or floral portraits, honoring deceased donors.

Among the late individuals honored in floragraphs are Barbara Schmit, 65, of Tustin, and Ivan Sandoval, 5, of Anaheim.

Regina Meaux, of Anaheim, holds a floragraph portrait of her son Ivan Sandoval, who will be honored as an organ donor in Donate Life’s “Lifting Each Other Up” float in the Rose Parade.

(James Carbone)

Regina Meaux, Ivan’s mother, said she will be filled with pride as she watches the parade from the grandstands. She remembers her son as a typical boy, a wild child who loved to play outside and get dirty.

“At first, I was kind of scared,” Meaux said of the decision to donate her son’s organs. “But then I remembered there’s another mother out there who has a prayer, and she’s praying for a miracle for her child.”

Sandoval lost his life in a car accident while he was heading home from a friend’s house, but the former superhero fan has played the part for three organ recipients. Both of his kidneys and his liver have been used so far to save lives.

Workers from Fiesta Parade Floats work on the tail of a Chinese dragon for Donate Life’s “Lifting Each Other Up” on Thursday.

(James Carbone)

Meaux said that Ivan continues to inspire her daughters, Danielle and Nicole.

“They also want to be organ donors,” said Meaux, who added that one of her daughters wants to become a nurse now. “It was something we’ve never talked about before until this, but now they’re like, ‘If it comes to that, I also want to be an organ donor just like him. I want to be able to save lives.’ They tell everybody that they have a hero, they have a hero brother.”

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.