As thousands tune in to watch one of America’s iconic and time-honored spectacles of pageantry, this year’s Tournament of Roses will pay homage to a Morgan Hill woman “whose gifts saved four lives,” according to a press release from the California Transplant Donor Network.
Held annually on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, the Rose Parade as it is commonly referred to will feature a float paying tribute to 81 organ and tissue donors. Melissa Ditta of Morgan Hill is among the honorees whose likeness will be depicted in a floral portrait.
Ditta first arrived in the South Bay area with her family as a teenager from New Jersey.
“As she grew up, friends and family say she took to the California lifestyle, continuing her passion of riding horses,” the press release reads. “But she also had a nurturing side which came out fully when she married and had two children. She volunteered at their school and with their sports organizations.”
Ditta died suddenly in 2012 while training for a running event. She was 34.
“As the result of her choice to be an organ and tissue donor, she saved the lives of four people while her tissues enhanced the lives of others,” according to the press release.
Her likeness will be on the float which honors donors through the country and also allows recipients of organs and tissues to say “thank you” before an international audience.
Melissa’s family, including her parents who live in San Martin, are expected to be at the parade.
Since 2004, the Donate Life Rose Parade Float has served as a memorial to organ and tissue donors and a platform for donor families, living donors and transplant recipients “to inspire the world and save and heal those in need through the gift of life.”
The parade airs at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 1, 2014.
About the California Transplant Donor Network
The California Transplant Donor Network saves and improves lives by facilitating organ and tissue donation for transplantation. The organization partners with 175 hospitals in 41 Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada counties to offer the option of organ and tissue donation to families whose loved ones have died, coordinates deceased organ and tissue recovery and placement to waiting transplant recipients. The network is federally designated as the region’s organ recovery organization. For information, call 888-570-9400 or visit www.ctdn.org.
