OLATHE, Kan. (KWCH) – A man from Olathe will be one of 29 people featured on a unique Rose Parade float on New Year’s Day.
The 137th Rose Parade will hit close to home for Linda Isaac, as her son, Chad Stacy, will be honored on the Donate Life float from One Legacy.
Stacy died in a car crash in 2017. Stacy’s loved ones describe the father of two as someone who was always happy and ready to extend a hand to anyone who needed it. Stacy served in the Marines after high school and would do anything for anybody.
Even after Stacy died, he didn’t stop helping others. After his death, his body was able to change lives through organ donation. Stacy donated tissue, tendons, heart valves and both corneas. While the average person can enhance up to 100 lives, Stacy enhanced 157.
Linda remembers the phone call when she found out that her son would be honored with a floral memorial on a Rose Parade float. Last month, Stacy’s family got to help complete the portrait.
“This has just been a dream that we could come here, and I was so surprised and just in shock,” Linda said.
“As strange as it sounds, after almost eight years, now gonna be nine years next month… Even though it was a portrait or a picture that we’d seen hundreds of times, it was a new picture just because of the way it was done,” said Donnavon Isaac, Stacy’s stepfather. “I’m not sure how to explain it to somebody that hasn’t gone through that, but just to see a portrait that was different and it was new, was very exciting.”
Stacy will be one of 29 floragraphs on the float, nominated by the Midwest Transplant Network, a group that Linda has become incredibly involved with.
“It’s brought so much healing to our lives. The pain has softened, and I think it’s because of our involvement with Midwest Transplant Network,” Linda said.
“I have really really seen it be a healing agent for my wife,” Donnavon said. “That hole never never heals, but she has certainly healed with the help of Midwest Transplant and the people in the events she’s had there.”
Stacy’s parents hope that the float will bring more awareness to organ donation, and they invite others to become organ donors.
“Chad’s life didn’t stop on that side of that highway when he died. Through this, it’s continued, and he’s even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with one of his recipients,” Linda said. “Don’t take your organs to Heaven, heaven knows we need them here.”
“Hey, go out there, register, donor registry, sharelifemidwest.com is where you can sign up and make sure that you can help someone else when your time on earth is done,” Donnavon said. “You can help a lot of people when you pass away.”
Stacy’s family hosts an annual wiffle ball tournament in Olathe every October, with dozens of people playing in honor of Stacy and encouraging others to become donors.
