Willow Grove Woman To Ride in Rose Bowl Parade On New Year's Day
By Brad Segall
WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (CBS) -- A Montgomery County woman who received a life-saving double organ transplant more than two decades ago will get the opportunity of a lifetime on New Year's Day when she rides aboard a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
After suffering from years of diabetes and renal failure, Faith Carlin (at right in photo) received a new kidney and a new pancreas in the early '90s.
Since that time, she has devoted much of her life to spreading the word about the importance of being an organ donor.
Now, as an ambassador for "Gift of Life" donor program, the Willow Grove resident is one of thirty people from around the country who will ride on the "Donate Life" parade float in Pasadena on New Year's Day.
"I need to help those that are waiting for what I received," Carlin tells KYW Newsradio. "I feel a responsibility, almost, to tell everyone about what happened to me so that maybe others will also receive this chance at life."
She's headedto California with her husband and two daughters, and while riding on the float she will hold in her hand a photograph of Doug Shriver, her organ donor, whom she calls "a hero."
