Bay Area Mother Saved By Organ Transplant Selected As Rose Parade® Float Rider
Donor Network West and Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center honor local mother with a Rose Parade send-off celebration to encourage more people to register as organ donors
(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) NOVEMBER 30, 2021 – Hilda Martinez, a kidney transplant recipient from Richmond, CA was selected by Donor Network West to ride on the Donate Life Rose Parade® float at the 133rd Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day. Donor Network West partnered with Sutter Health, an affiliate of California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) to host a send-off celebration event for Hilda. The event will take place at California Pacific Medical Center, located at 1101 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco on Wednesday, Dec.1 at 11:00am on the 5th floor outdoor garden.
On August 6, 2014, Hilda, a wife and mother of four, was told by her doctors that her kidneys could no longer do the job they needed to and was then placed on the transplant waiting list. Her first dialysis appointment was scheduled for a few days later on August 13th. Unexpectedly, Hilda received a call the very next day notifying her that she was a possible candidate for a kidney transplant.
Hilda describes her experience as a “miracle,” for she is well aware of the long wait people who need a kidney transplant have to endure. Hilda’s kidney transplant provided her with the gift of life, which includes the gift of time. Hilda is blessed to be able to spend quality time with her two young daughters, see her two sons graduate from San Francisco State University, and celebrate 26 years of marriage with her loving husband.
Donor Network West has helped facilitate the recovery of every lifesaving organ in northern California and northern Nevada for the past 30 years. The federally designated non-profit organ procurement organization is dedicated to helping provide people with a second chance at life through organ, eye and tissue donation for transplantation and research.
“One family’s decision to donate gave Hilda and her family the gift of time, life and hope. We are happy to have been a part of her journey thanks to the power of organ donation,” says Janice F. Whaley, President and CEO of Donor Network West.
Sutter Health, CPMC’s kidney transplant services and programs are nationally recognized. The kidney transplant program at Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center performs more than 200 kidney transplants a year — as well as pancreas transplants and simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants.
“CPMC’s transplant program is incredibly proud to have helped Hilda—and thousands like her—who need life-saving organ transplants,” said Beth Shindler, Director of Transplant and Advanced Organ Therapies at CPMC. “Events like this one help to bring greater awareness to the life-changing gift of organ donation for all those involved.”
There are more than 23,000 people awaiting a life-saving organ transplant in California alone, and more than 100,000 nationally. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and a tissue donor can heal more than 75 others. Anyone can register to be an organ donor. To learn more and to register as an organ donor, visit DonorNetworkWest.org.