Life and Roses

 

A  Houston-area organ donor and his family will be honored at the 2011 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. on New Year’s Day.

Bridge to Life, Ltd and LifeGift today announced that Chad Jones, son of Michael and Sheree Jones of Katy, Texas, will be remembered on the 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade Float – themed “Seize the Day!” – for saving the lives of four strangers through organ donation and countless others through the gift of tissue donation.

Chad will be depicted in a floragraph – a portrait created from all-natural, floral materials – along with 59 other organ, eye and tissue donors from across the country whose images will adorn Donate Life’s float entry. Donor family members, living donors and transplant recipients also participate as float riders, bringing to life the 2011 Rose Parade theme, Building Dreams, Friendships & Memories.
“Through the gifts of organ and tissue donation, Chad and his family became heroes to those lives he saved and their loved ones,” said Aaron Gilchrist of Bridge to Life, Ltd., who is sponsoring the Jones family’s participation in the Rose Parade. “As a company we are committed to national organ transplant awareness, and we are honored to be part of this tradition, while sharing it with such an amazing family – a family who, under the most difficult of circumstances, saw beyond their own pain and grief to help others.”
Chad, an avid car and motorcycle lover, was in a tragic accident on June 6, 2009.

Jones’ family completed their floragraph on Friday, Dec. 10, at Ben Taub General Hospital. The floral portrait will be a part of the float, the theme of which is “Seize the Day.”

In late 2009, the Jones family Michael, Sheree and Chad’s sister, Jessica, founded Donate 4 Life (www.donate4life.com), a nonprofit organization, which raises awareness of donation and encourages Texans to become registered organ and tissue donors. While the number of registered donors in Texas has increased dramatically over the last year and now has more than 1.1 million registered donors, the state must continue to make progress and encourage more residents to register as donors.
Registering as an organ and tissue donor is simple and it’s free. It can be done one of three ways:
· Via online at www.donatelifetexas.org or its companion site www.donevida.org
· At any Department of Public Safety (DPS) office or via online with the DPS when renewing or obtaining a driver’s license or ID.
· Through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when renewing vehicle registrations online.
For more information about Bridge to Life, Ltd., visit www.bridgetolifesolutions.com. For more information about LifeGift, visit wwwlifegift.org. For more information about the Donate Life Rose Parade Float, visit www.donatelifefloat.org.