Tournament of Roses Parade float to recognize girl's tissue donations

FARGO – Kirstin Cantler-Booke was traveling with her parents when their car hit a patch of ice and swerved into a concrete bridge pillar on Interstate 29.

Kirstin, just three weeks shy of her first birthday, died the following day at Essentia Health here. It was Christmas Eve, 2009.

Her parents, Sydney Cantler and Andrew Booke, readily agreed to allow their daughter to be a tissue donor.

Her contributions went to recipients ranging from age 13 to 46 in 12 states. A heart valve went to California, a pulmonary valve to Wisconsin. She also donated 26 bone and cartilage grafts.

Now Kirstin’s gifts will be recognized in the Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Monday.

Kirstin’s picture, made of flower blossoms, will be part of the float in the famous Rose Parade, seen by millions of television viewers in the United States and around the world.

She is being honored by LifeSource, the organ donation organization for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Kirstin’s maternal grandparents, Chris and Dawn Cantler, will help decorate the Donate Life float with her “floragraph” image, which will adorn a clock tower, and watch the parade from the grandstand.

“We’re grateful that she is able to live on through her gifts,” Chris Cantler said. “She was the light of our lives and her smile could melt your heart.”

Sydney Cantler, who is expecting to give birth to a child this month, is unable to travel.

“We just want people to know about organ donation and how much that helps people,” she said.

One of her grandfathers, in fact, was the recipient of two donated hearts and a kidney. Similarly, a member of Andrew Booke’s family was a donor.

The Donate Life float has been part of the Rose Parade since 2004, and LifeSource has participated for four or five years.

“It’s a really incredible float,” said Rebecca Ousley, a spokeswoman for LifeSource, based in St. Paul. “It’s gotten a lot of accolades and awards by the parade itself.”

Because of the visibility of the parade, the float and honored donors and recipients are a good way to spread the word about the gifts of organ and tissue donation, Ousley said.

More than 3,000 people in the Upper Midwest are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, she said. Nationally, the total is more than 112,000. A single donor can save up to 60 lives through organ and tissue donation.

“Millions of people across the country and across the world, really, watch the Rose Parade,” she said. “It’s definitely become sort of a tradition for us here.”

Online

• Find out more about donation and how to register at www.DonateLifeND.org or www.DonateLifeMN.org.
• Find out more about the Donate Life float at www.DonateLifeFloat.org.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522

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