Organ donors celebrated at Fiesta Bowl parade

PHOENIX — Saturday’s annual Fiesta Bowl Parade had a very special entry – families of organ and tissue donors and recipients of those transplants.

They marched to show the importance of the gift of life. 

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One year after Adison Leigh Rayburn’s passing, her parents, Rob and Shannon, walked the Fiesta Bowl parade route to honor Rayburn as a lifesaving organ donor.

“She was a lover of life. She loved all people, all walks of life,” Adison’s mom Shannon said.

And they’re not alone. Along the route, they were joined by 25 loved ones to honor Adison, as the organ donor hero she is.

In 2023, Adison passed away after an asthma attack.

“We got a phone call in the middle of the night that she had an asthma attack, and that she was being transported to a hospital on life support,” Shannon Rayburn said. “We got there and arrived at the hospital to find out find out that she had suffered an anoxic brain injury, and that she was not compatible with living anymore.”

Adison truly understood the power of sharing life, as she registered as an organ donor twice.

“One year ago today, she left this world, but a few pieces of her stayed behind,” Shannon said. “And they’ve saved the lives of three Arizona residents here, and we’re just grateful to be here today to honor her in this way.”

As an organ and tissue donor, Adison saved the lives of three people and offered other gifts for research.

“Right in line with who she was as a person,” Shannon said. “With every step we take today… we’re honoring her and all the people who have donated their gifts to save other people’s lives as well.”

Heart recipient Laura Gober recalls her own experience with organ donation.

“My heart just stopped working,” she said. “And so, within a month I received a new heart, and it means life.”

Gober honored her donor in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl Parade.

“I know it’s very hard for organ donors to say goodbye to their loved one, but they’re living on,” Gober said. “I live with my donor every day and they’re doing great.”

Gober says her heart is doing wonderful and makes it so she and her donor are living on together every day.

“Every minute, every step, I am grateful,” she said.

It was a meaningful and emotional gathering showing how, through multiple gifts of organ donation, families like Adison’s can rest assured — her spirit lives on.

“Register to donate,” her mom said. “Because you just never know whose life you might save, and it might be your own that you might get saved someday, so be in a position to save a life.”

Here in the U.S., there are currently more than 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ donation.

For more information on how you can become an organ donor, if you’re not already, just go to:  

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