Stockton woman donated part of her liver to mom, heads to Rose Parade
Rose Parade to feature Stockton woman who donated part of her liver to mother
Stockton resident Raquel Armstrong will be participating in the 2026 Rose Parade on New Year’s Day as part of the OneLegacy Donate Life, “Treasure Every Moment Together” float.
Provided by the DMV
On New Year’s Day, Stockton resident Raquel Armstrong will be participating in the 2026 Rose Parade as part of the OneLegacy Donate Life, “Treasure Every Moment Together” float.
Armstrong donated part of her liver to her mother and shared her living donor story on Dec. 4 during a DMV news conference with Donate Life California at the DMV Headquarters, 2415 First Ave., in Sacramento. During the event, Armstrong, a representative for the South Sacramento DMV Office, and Zeida Woods, a manager at the DMV Costa Mesa office were recognized for their “extraordinary contributions through organ donation.”
“The DMV is honored to have partnered with Donate Life California for the past 19 years,” said Ed Swenson, DMV’s chief deputy director during the event. “Each year we have recognized DMV team members or loved ones who have donated life-saving organs during the annual Donate Life Rose Parade celebrations in Pasadena.”
Daughter donates to mother
Armstrong, 48, who was born in French Camp and raised in Stockton, told The Record she was a student at Cleveland Elementary School when Michael Jackson visited the school after the Stockton schoolyard shooting. The 1989, shooting left five children, all under the age of 9 years old dead.
“I was so young, we didn’t even know to be scared,” Armstrong said.
She is now a mother and grandmother too.
Her mother, Rena Aguirre, was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 2014.
“In the town we live in, the doctor at the local hospital were blunt. Cirrhosis had no cure. They gave her a life expectancy of about three years. All they could offer was palliative treatment,” Armstrong said during the event. “My mother started developing ascites, a condition where excessive fluid accumulates in the abdominal wall between the organs. Her jaundice began to worsen and her timeline began getting shorter, very fast. I didn’t want to accept the reality, I wouldn’t accept it. I knew there had to be other options, so I visited several hospitals and, I discovered that liver transplant might be the option to be able to save my mother’s life.”
Armstrong said she reached out to UCSF Medical Center, where her mother was placed on the waiting list for a transplant. After her health declined even more, on Sept. 8, 2016, Armstrong decided to be her mother’s donor after testing and finding out she was a match. Armstrong donated 60% of her liver to her mother. A surgery that lasted from 14 to 16 hours, she said.
“She’s working and enjoying life and grateful to be alive,” Armstrong said of her mother. “She literally had a second chance.”
Her mother, now 65, is working part-time at a laundromat and travels too, Armstrong said.
“She lives life to the fullest,” she said.
Armstrong said, next year it will be 10 years since their surgery.
“I live a normal life, you wouldn’t know I was an organ donor, or she was a recipient unless we told you,” Armstrong said. “We live normal lives, eat fatty foods like everybody else.”
Armstrong said it took her a lot of research on her own and advocating to save her mother’s life.
“It was a struggle. It wasn’t easy and that’s another reason I’m an advocate because I want people to know about donation,” Armstrong said. “If I would have accepted it, my mom would have been deceased by now, 10 years ago.”
Her message to the community is to “be an advocate for your loved ones. Know what your options are. Educate yourself in whatever situation you’re in.”
Armstrong said that a lot of people have the misconception of having the pink dot on their license.
“The ultimate goal is to save your life,” she said. “One person can save eight lives and improve up to 75 lives.”
Armstrong said before her mother became ill she was not registered as a donor. But that has changed since then. In the OneLegacy Donate Life website, she states her dream is to “become a living kidney donor one day.”
“I’m an organ and tissue donor because I want to be able to save more lives if I’m able to,” Armstrong said. “If I get the privilege of being able to do that, knowing that someone will live on, it brings me joy.”
Aside from doctor visits, life has been normal after her donation, she said.
“I was able to give my mom a second chance of life. I hope that hearing my story inspires you to take action,” Armsrtrong said. “You never know whose life you can save.”
Armstrong told The Record she expected to leave for the 2026 Rose Parade on Sunday, Dec. 28.
“I’m just excited. It’s amazing, everyone makes me feel like a superstar because a lot of people don’t get the privilege to donate,” Armstrong said. “A lot of people don’t donate for their own reasons, or being scared. It’s not an easy thing to do. I had to write out my will basically, so if something did happen to me or there was a chance my liver could have failed.”
Organ donation an act of ‘caring for one another’
Both Armstrong and Woods, the DMV manager at the Costa Mesa office, will be honored during the 2026 Tournament of Roses Parade on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, a DMV news release states. This will be the 23rd year that OneLegacy will be participating in the 137th Rose Parade.
“During the Rose Parade, the OneLegacy Donate Life float shares the gift of life with the world. Families of deceased donors are honored to see their loved one’s likeness showcased as a florograph on the float, just like the one you see here today,” said Jim Martin, chief executive officer, Donate Life California. “It’s an honor to announce Carlos Giovanni Woods will be one of the donor heroes featured as a florograph on the float. Raquel Armstrong will also be one of the living donors walking alongside the float. The float also features transplant recipients and thousands of dedicated roses with messages of hope and remembrance.”
Martin said every year the Tournament of Roses has a theme.
“This year’s float highlights gratitude for moments shared with others. The lush tropical paradise is a reminder that registered organ eye and tissue donors offer the greatest treasure, the gift of life,” Martin said. “In this way, the 2026 OneLegacy Donate Life float follows the annual tradition of beautifully depicting the people and cultures of California while sharing the human connection of caring for one another.”
According to the news release, the DMV has helped register over 19 million organ, eye and tissue donors since partnering with Donate Life California in 2006.
“Every day, 150 people are added to the national organ transplant waiting list,” the DMV news release states.
To learn more about Donate Life California, visit donatelifecalifornia.org.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers business and community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at
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