Asante Contreras’ family will finish his ‘Floragraph’ portrait for 2023 Donate
Life America float
Asante Contreras was just 20 years old when he passed away in a motor vehicle accident in May 2020, just one day before he was to take his final exam for the Paramedic Certificate Program at UT Health San Antonio.
He was a person dedicated to helping others and because of that, he left a lasting legacy as a tissue and cornea donor. Asante’s tissue donation has already gone on to create 95 grafts to heal those with severe burns, torn ligaments or tendons, repair musculoskeletal structures such as teeth, skin, and spinal components, and much more.
On Jan. 2, 2023, Asante and 43 other donors across the country will be honored through Floragraph portraits on the “Donate Life” Rose Parade Float in Pasadena, California. A Floragraph is a portrait that is comprised of flowers and other organic materials. The 2023 float theme, “Lifting Each Other Up,” will mark the 20th anniversary of Donate Life America having a float in the Rose Parade. The float will also feature 8 living donors as walkers and 18 transplant recipients as riders.
South Texas Blood & Tissue works with hospitals across south Texas to offer families and individuals the opportunity to save and enhance lives through the gift of tissue donation. STB&T works with local partners to promote organ, tissue, and eye donation within the community, and to provide support to donor families.
Through a sponsorship from Xtant Medical, one of STB&T’s tissue partners, and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation, Asante’s family will be traveling to Pasadena to participate in the festivities of the Rose Parade and attend special events with Donate Life America where they will meet other donor families, living donors, and transplant recipients.
