Area woman celebrates new life

OCT. 29, 2014 – Clare Dowling, a 23 year old who grew up in the Bay Area and is attending college because of an organ donor’s gift of lungs,

will ride on the Donate Life “Never Ending Story” float New Year’s Day in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.

With the support of California Transplant Donor Network, (CTDN) a nonprofit focused on saving the lives of those in need of organ and tissue transplants

in Northern California and Northern Nevada, and sponsorship of the Donate Life Run/Walk Committee and Family Festival held each year in Fullerton,

the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) student has been selected to be among 30 riders on the float.

The float is making its 11th appearance in the internationally recognized kickoff to the New Year.

As a Chico State University student, Clare began to feel shortness of breath when walking from class to class. Normally a healthy and active young lady,

she was suddenly very ill. She was diagnosed with a severe lung disease just days before her 19th birthday.

Clare’s only hope was to receive a double lung transplant. Her journey would take her to the brink of death and back again.

She was put on the transplant waiting list in April of 2010, and, due to severe complications that nearly claimed her life,

she spent nearly three months in the intensive care unit. Clare received her transplant that summer and was finally

released from the hospital in late November.

She now has her health back is a senior at UCSB and grateful for her donor.

“I wasn’t given these lungs to lead a mediocre life,” said Clare who received new lungs in 2010 and has been active in volunteering with CTDN since 2012.