After a transcendent experience participating in the 2016 Rose Parade, IIAM made its second appearance at the 2017 showcase event, along with another neonatal donor family.

IIAM, a division of the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, joined with many other organizations dedicated to organ and tissue donation to help prepare the Donate Life America (DLA) float titled “Teammates in Life.” This spectacular Polynesian catamaran replica was propelled by a team of 24 organ, eye and tissue transplant recipients rowing in unison with strength gained from their donors. The sails of the vessel featured 60 floral portraits (floragraphs) of donors interwoven with Polynesian designs and patterns.

Representatives of IIAM sponsored a floragraph of Ourania Barbara Brennan, who became an organ and cornea donor just five days after her birth in June 2013. Ourania was diagnosed with anencephaly, which is a fatal neural tube defect. Knowing that she would not survive, Ourania’s parents, Dan and Alison, and older sister Calliope, decided that organ and tissue donation would be the best way to honor her brief life while helping others.

Ourania’s gifts allowed researchers to expand their knowledge of Type I Diabetes, pulmonary airway disorders resulting from premature births and a broad spectrum of sight disorders — as well as identify alternatives to whole organ transplant for liver disease. A healthy daughter Thalia was born in 2014.