NJ Sharing Network to feature West Orange, Keyport women in parade

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — NJ Sharing Network recently honored lung transplant recipient Dawn Burke, of Keyport, and paid tribute to the memory of organ donor Jamila Irons-Johnson, daughter of Janice Campbell, of West Orange, as Burke and Campbell get set to participate in the 2022 Donate Life Rose Parade float during the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade that will take place in California and air nationally on New Year’s Day. 

Burke will ride on the float, and Campbell will attend the parade to see her daughter honored with a floragraph on the float. A floragraph is a portrait made from flowers. Burke and Campbell were recently joined by their families and loved ones during a Floragraph Finishing and Send-off Event at NJ Sharing Network. Campbell and her family put the finishing artistic touches on the floragraph that will now be sent to California for placement on the Donate Life Rose Parade float.

Campbell’s life changed forever on Jan. 24, 2013, when her daughter suffered a fatal aneurysm rupture. Irons-Johnson was a 35-year-old psychologist at the time who focused on supporting often abused or neglected children. The married mother of two worked at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, where she was the supervising psychologist for the Dorothy B. Hersh Child Protection Center. Upon Irons-Johnson’s death, Campbell and her daughter’s family made the decision to donate her organs. That night, Irons-Johnson saved the lives of six people with the donation of  two kidneys and her heart, liver and pancreas, as well as her lungs.

“My son-in-law said, ‘Mom, she would want that. She was a giving person,’” Campbell said. 

Since 2004, the Donate Life Rose Parade float has inspired people across the country and around the world to save and heal lives with the powerful message of organ, eye and tissue donation. The 2022 float, “Courage to Hope,” shares the courage shown by donor families, living donors and transplant recipients. It features numerous floragraphs, which replicate photographs but are made entirely of organic materials, honoring donors from around the country. 

According to United Network for Organ Sharing, one person in New Jersey dies every three days waiting for a transplant. Just one organ and tissue donor can save eight lives and enhance the lives of more than 75 people. To learn more and register as an organ and tissue donor, visit www.NJSharingNetwork.org.

  NJ Sharing Network