The Grand Junction Rockies fans came out Saturday to not only support the game but also a great cause. Donor Alliance hosted its 2nd annual Donate Life Night, themed around the organ, eye and tissue donation. Players wore special Donate Life jerseys which were later auctioned off to raise money for the cause.
Nearly 6,000 people filled Washington Park in Denver Sunday morning for the 17th annual Donor Alliance Donor Dash. The 5K event is designed to celebrate the gift of life. It honors those who are alive and others who saved lives through organ and tissue donation.
A total of 5,857 participants either ran or walked in Sunday’s Donor Dash at Washington Park. In the crowd, donor families and donor recipients. The annual event by Donor Alliance brought together thousands of Coloradans who honored the lives of organ, eye and tissue donors — and celebrated the lives of their recipients. “I went to a physical and was told I had stage 3 cancer. I had 12 months to live,” Stephen Salcedo said. As of Sunday, it had been 17 months since his liver transplant. Before the start of the 5K, he was at the front of the running crowd.
More than 119,000 people in the United States are currently awaiting an organ transplant, and 22 of them will die on any given day, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Keith Stampley is thankful that he is not among them, and he traveled to Broomfield from Alton, Ill. — home of the world’s tallest man, he is proud to say — to show his thanks to the mother of the man whose liver has given him a new lease on life.
Thirty years ago on Saturday, July 15, her life was saved when she got a heart transplant she so desperately needed. Diane Harden suffered from Cardiomyopathy and was told she had 10 years to live by doctors after getting a new heart back in 1987. She has defied all odds and is shocking her friends and family. “Who would’ve thought 30 years ago today, that we’d be sitting here and talking about Diane’s 30th heart transplant anniversary and talking about the 35th coming up,” Diane’s sister, Linda Dixon said.
A man from Illinois who was saved by a Colorado teen’s decision to donate his organs for the first time met the mother of the donor this past Friday. Evan Spear was only 19-years-old when he was killed in a car crash in Pueblo two years ago. Before his death, the teen became an organ, eye and tissue donor and his decision was able to save the life of Keith Stampley, a retired minister from Alton, Ill. Stampley received Spear’s liver.
The 18th Annual Donor Dash 5K kicks off at Denver’s Washington Park Sunday. On Friday a man traveled from Illinois to meet his organ donor’s mother. They’ll walk the event together, year’s after a liver transplant saved his life.
The annual Donor Dash is July 16th. Andrea Smith with Donor Alliance and Scott Pickney, organ recipient talk about the upcoming event.
Early Sunday morning, thousands will walk and run around Washington Park as the 18th annual Donor Dash returns to Denver. Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville will be among them. He and his family will participate in the 5K for the second straight year to honor organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate the resulting recipients.
Being a hero had always been one of my dreams. I wanted to fly like Superman and be as strong as Batman. Instead, I got the opportunity to do something more than fighting bad guys. I got to save my big sister’s life.
