Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 2-24-17

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FLORIDA SENTINEL
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Love Give Live 5K Walk/Run Raises More Than $56,000 To Support Local Organ Transplant Patients
Shown left to right, Dennis Heinrichs, Life- Link Foundation CEO & Chairman of the Board, along with Carlos Ruiz, donor family member.
Carlos lost his brother, Omar, in April 2014. Omar went on to save 4 lives through the gift of organ donation and improve countless more through his gifts of tissue – including corneas, which restored sight to two people.
Today, Carlos volunteers with LifeLink and helping to spread the word on donation – in- cluding at Saturday’s race, where he shared his story of donation with the racing crowd and then did the ceremonial ribbon cutting to kick off the race.
Shown left to right, Syrita and Rodney Ford. Rodney served for the second consecutive year as the “Bike Marshal,” leading the pack of run- ners from start to finish on the race course. Ad- ditionally, Rodney has a special connection to the Donate Life cause – he donated a kidney to his wife, Syrita, in 2010. Today, both husband and wife are in great health, as evidenced by Rodney biking a 5K for Saturday’s race!
Top Fundraising Team Winner, “The Heartbeats” in honor of team member, Win Weber, who received a heart transplant. Team shown with Tampa Yankees mascot “Blue.” “The Heartbeats” collectively raised $10,803.00.
Representatives from the Transplant Institute at Largo Medi- cal Center presenting a check to LifeLink Legacy Fund; (shown left to right) representatives from Largo Medical Center; gentle- man in the back is Dennis Heinrichs, LifeLink Foundation CEO and Chairman of the Board; and girl in front, center / yellow shirt is Holly Stallings, LifeLink Legacy Fund Program Specialist.
“Team Nana Hannah”, formed in honor of family member (Hannah) who received a heart transplant.
Group shot of race participants, proudly sporting their race medals for completion of race
Top 3 Male Winners.
LifeLink Legacy Fund® hosted its Second Annual Love Give Live 5K Walk/Run on Saturday, February 11th, at Water Works Park in down- town Tampa.
The family-oriented race was held to promote the life- saving message of organ and tissue donation, while raising funds for both the LifeLink Legacy Fund, to provide fi- nancial assistance to organ transplant patients in need of medical care, and Donate Life Florida, to further statewide donation education efforts to grow Florida’s organ, eye and tissue donor registry.
The event was sponsored by several community partner organizations, including Sun- Trust Bank.
This inaugural event drew in 390 race registrants
from around the community and raised more than $56,000, to be distributed evenly between LifeLink Legacy Fund and Donate Life Florida.
The racers began the 5K with “Bicycle Marshal” Rod- ney Ford, who donated a kidney to his wife, Syrita, in March 2010 at Tampa General Hospital. Today, almost seven years later, both Rodney and Syrita remain in good health.
According to Ruth Dun- can Bell, Senior Vice Presi- dent for LifeLink Foundation and race participant, “We ap- preciate the opportunity to spread the life-saving message of organ and tissue donation throughout the community. Watching transplant recipi- ents and donor families walk in support of donation, along
Top 3 Female Winners.
with hundreds of other partic- ipants, is extremely gratifying and serves as a testament that organ and tissue donation saves lives.”
Race participants ranged widely in both age and experi- ence levels. In addition to sev- eral familiar faces among the local racing circuit, there were many organ transplant recipi- ents, organ and tissue donor families, LifeLink Foundation employees and other general community supporters among the racers.
Winning categories in- cluded Top Male, Top Female, and Top Child (age 12 and under).
Category winners were Mr. Larry Aiello, Top Male; Ms. Theresa O’Hern, Top Female; and JD Valdes, Top Child.
LifeLink Legacy Fund is a 501(c)3 established in 1990 to support LifeLink Founda- tion’s efforts in organ and tis- sue donation and transplantation.
Over the last 27 years, the LifeLink Legacy Fund has emerged into a boundless support system for pre- and post- transplant patients in need of financial assistance.
The LifeLink Legacy Fund also provides funding for crit- ical research and programs to improve organ and tissue do- nation and transplantation.
To date, the LifeLink Legacy Fund has been privi- leged to contribute over $1.5 million to hundreds of indi- viduals in Florida and Geor- gia.
Donate Life Florida is the statewide alliance of
organ, tissue and eye recovery programs in Florida, as well as other interested parties, and is tasked by the state of Florida with overseeing the Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry.
Florida’s donor registry al- lows Floridians to express their legally binding decision to save lives as a donor, and is funded through contributions made to the state or Donate Life Florida.
Support of Florida’s organ, tissue and eye donor registry enhances donation education in Florida, and expands op- portunities for Floridians to join the registry when they get or renew their driver license or state identification card, or by visiting the registry online at www.DonateLifeFlorida.org.