On New Year's Day, millions of people will head to Pasadena, California, or tune in to watch the annual Rose Parade.
Here in Northern Nevada, one couple will be watching this parade together, as they've done for nearly five decades. But this year, they have a very special reason to watch.
In 1965, Heidi Smith competed against nearly 4,000 other women for the honor of riding in the Rose Parade as a Rose Princess. Her future husband was there watching.
"One out of three or four thousand gals,” Steve Smith remembered, “and that was my girlfriend!"
Together, they've watched the parade every year since. First it was just the two of them. Now, they watch with their six children and 15 grandchildren. And they're grateful, because Heidi almost didn't make it to this year.
Diagnosed with liver failure, she was told she'd need a transplant to survive. She went on the list in 1995.
“I was so sick,” Heidi said, “I needed [a transplant] right away, but I did not get one for almost 11 years."
On Christmas day 2005, when she had just three weeks left to live, she got the call. A liver was available, and it saved her life. But it didn't escape her that a woman named Cindy from Idaho had had to die so that she could live.
"Every Christmas we remember, and I contact Cindy's daughter," Heidi said. “I tell her how much I appreciate her mother."
So this year, when she and her family sit down to watch the parade, the former Rose Princess will be participating in a different way. She sent a single rose, with her donor's name on it, to be a part of the Donate Life float, dedicated to the thousands of donors who made life possible for others.
“It means a lot to me, because I know what it took to put that float together, who those people are, and what it means," Heidi said. "That was what gave me life."
Heidi said that since her transplant, she has been active doing outreach in the community, trying to boost registration for organ donors. To learn more about organ donation, or to register, click here.
