Syracuse organ recepient will be on "Donate Life" float in Rose Parade

The Syracuse Post Standard | Maureen Nolan
Sue Sprague received a kidney-pancreas transplant in 1997. The transplant saved her life. She is preparing to leave for the annual Rose Parade, where she will be on the Donate Life Float. She poses in her Syracuse home with her husband, Doug, and their children, Kristi and Ryan. Sprague holds her Rose Parade certificate and a photo of her donor, Terry Brown of Utica. Brown died at the age of 39 in a car crash. After his death his family authorized for his organs to be donated. Sprague says she will be thinking of Brown and his family as she prepares for and takes part in the parade.Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard
If you tune in New Year’s Day to the annual Rose Parade, watch for the blue-and-orange-clad woman waving like mad on the “Donate Life” float.

She feels blessed, and crazy excited, to be there.

She is Syracuse preschool teacher Sue Sprague, who received a kidney and pancreas transplant 15 years ago and is doing fine today. The Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, which is a sponsor of the float, invited Sprague to be among 28 people who will be on it during the parade.

She and her husband, Doug, will catch an early morning flight Friday to Pasadena. Being on the float is on Sprague’s bucket list. She is a major Syracuse University fan and figured there was no better way to represent the area than to dress in SU colors for the big event.


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