Texas Mother to Honor Sons' Lives during the Rose Bowl Parade

Texas mother will honor the lives of her two sons and thousands of others who gave the gift of life through organ and tissue donation as one of 28 people riding a special float in the 2012 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

Valerie Fourtunia, mother of tissue donors Mike and Jeremy, will ride the Donate Life float in recognition of the thousands of individuals who donate tissue each year. Valerie's trip to Pasadena is sponsored by RTI Donor Services. (Photo: Business Wire)

Valerie Fourtunia, mother of tissue donors Mike and Jeremy, will ride the Donate Life float in recognition of the thousands of individuals who donate tissue each year. Valerie's trip to Pasadena is sponsored by RTI Donor Services, which is a founding sponsor and one of more than 100 associations across the nation—including organ and tissue recovery organizations, industry partners, transplant centers and transplant recipient groups—supporting the float project. This is RTI's ninth consecutive year supporting the program.

Valerie's son Mike was 22 years old when he was involved in a fatal car accident. “Mike, or ‘Mikey' to me, was born ready to embrace life,” Valerie said. “He was such an adventurer, full of love, always ready for the next thrill.”

Mike was a natural athlete. In his early years, at the age of nine, he was a state champion in karate. In junior high and high school he played football, basketball and track and according to his mother, was an incredible runner. When Mike was 15, he tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in a basketball game and was a recipient of donor tissue.

Mike's older brother Jeremy, whom he idolized, also passed away in a fatal car accident at the age of 16. Mike was 10 years old at the time. “My two boys, the bright lights of my life, are the only children I was blessed with,” Valerie said. “I feel as if they are together again, but still always with me.”

Valerie said that being a donor was something that she and Mike had talked about after his brother's passing and both knew it was something they wanted to do.

Through the RTI Donor Services Pathways Program, Valerie received two letters from recipients of Mike's donation. One recipient had an ACL reconstruction, just as Mike did when he was 15. He said in his letter to Valerie, “Since the tissue transplant, I have been able to go back to many normal activities, and am looking forward to a pain-free future. For this I am very grateful to you and your loved one. My family and I will always remember your act of kindness and generosity.”

Another recipient, who needed to have a portion of her spine rebuilt after many years of agonizing pain, wrote to Valerie saying, “Without your son's gift, I would have eventually been paralyzed.”

The Donate Life float, one of more than 100 parade floats and units in this year's “Just Imagine…,” themed parade, will present “One More Day,” a float lavishly decorated in floral timepieces and a 30-foot clock tower, celebrating organ, eye and tissue donors and recipients, while reinforcing the preciousness of time. The 123^rd Rose Parade will take place at 8 a.m. PST on Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. For more information on the “One More Day” float, visit the official website at www.donatelifefloat.org.

Today, more than 112,000 children and adults await life-saving organ transplants in the United States. Hundreds of thousands more are in need of a tissue transplant to save or greatly enhance the quality of their lives. Visit www.donatelife.net/CommitToDonation to find out how to designate your donation wishes in your state.

RTI Donor Services is a not-for-profit, American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited organization, working with organ and tissue agencies to provide responsible stewardship of the gift of donation. For more information on RTI Donor Services, visit www.rtidonorservices.org.

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