Donor families, AdventHealth team members honor the gift of life

As part of National Donate Life Blue and Green Day, team members at all AdventHealth Central Florida hospital campuses walked to help raise awareness of the need for organ donors.

“When you see health care professionals coming together at a single moment in time to remember the families that you serve every day, it's really special because it makes us feel like we are part of a community, and it reminds these families that their loved ones are never forgotten,” said Ginny McBride, executive director of OurLegacy, Central Florida’s federally designated organ procurement organization.

Additionally, pinwheels were placed outside AdventHealth hospitals in honor of donor heroes who gave the gift of life last year.

"It reminds these families that their loved ones are never forgotten."

Cassie Datz placed a pinwheel in honor of Julian Bamba, a 31-year-old patient and registered organ donor who passed away on Blue and Green Day 2024.

“It just means a lot to be able to place a pinwheel that's for him,” said Datz, who was engaged to Bamba.

The couple had been set to marry April 12, 2024.

As Bamba grew more ill, an OurLegacy family care specialist put together a “ceremony of love” so that Datz could say her final goodbyes to her fiancé.

“When (our family support contact) heard about the fact that this had happened on the day that was supposed to be our wedding day, she took it upon herself to still give us as close to a wedding as we could,” Datz said. “She did way more than I could have ever expected.”

To learn more about Bamba and Datz’s story, watch the video at the top of this page.

More than 104,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving transplant in the United States, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Of those, about 600 are being cared for by teams at the AdventHealth Transplant Institute, Orlando’s only solid-organ transplant program.

OurLegacy works closely with hospitals and donor families to coordinate the organ donation process.

Florida residents may sign up to become an organ donor in just a few minutes by visiting www.donatelifeflorida.org.