Living through others
Likeness of Lakewood teen to be featured on Donate Life’s Rose Parade float in Pasadena
It’s been more than eight years since Tom and Lisa Mcnichols have seen their 16year-old daughter’s face. h Jenaé Mcnichols was a sophomore at Lakewood High
School on Memorial Day afternoon in 2013 when she was severely injured in a single-car crash on her way to teach a dance class at Garrett Dance Arts Studio.
The well-loved dancer, cheerleader, daughter, sister and friend fought for three days in the hospital, but eventually succumbed to her injuries. h The shocked Lakewood community mourned her as one, gathering to hold a candlelight vigil in Hebron’s Canal Park and lining the school’s chain link fence with the phrase, “Dance In Heaven Jenaé.”
As they trudged through the stages of grief, the Mcnicholses drew comfort from the fact that, thanks to Jenaé’s adamant decision shortly after getting her driver’s license to become an organ donor, her corneas were helping a person in California to see and others elsewhere were alive because of her donation of organs and tissue.
In the years that followed, her family set up a scholarship and tournaments in her name to raise money for Lakewood High School seniors and students at Garrett Dance Arts. They also became outspoken advocates for organ donation, sharing their daughter’s story and helping to raise awareness.
“That’s what she wanted to do, is give life,” Lisa said.
To honor Jenaé’s decision and her family’s advocacy, Lifeline of Ohio decided to feature Jenae’s
likeness on the Donate Life Rose Parade float on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California.
The float, whose theme is “Courage to Hope,” will feature floragraphs of several donors’ faces from across the United States, though Jenaé’s will be the only one from Ohio. The centerpiece of the Venetian-themed float will be a winged lion — the Lion of Venice — flanked by gondolas and traditional colonnades.
“Anywhere we share Jenaé’s story, we always get such a big reaction,” said Jessica Petersen, Media and Public Relations coordinator for Lifeline of Ohio, noting that the family’s passion for organ donation advocacy made her a clear choice.
On Nov. 12, a small group of friends, family and community members gathered as Lifeline repre
sentatives unveiled the floragraph — an image of Jenaé’s face constructed with natural elements such as coffee grounds and spices — that will appear on the float. Dressed in blue T-shirts bearing the image of a pink rose in honor of Jenaé, the atmosphere in the crowd was jovial as the evening’s attendees awaited the ‘grand reveal.’
In a brief presentation, Jenaé’s sister Jana Nethers spoke about her sister’s selfless personality, adding that “she would give anything to anyone.”
“All that she did, she did with love and joy in her heart that I know came from Jesus,” Nethers said.
As the crocheted pink shawl that covered the dinner plate-sized floragraph was pulled away, Tom put his arm around his wife in support as they admired their daughter’s face.
“This is Jenaé’s graduation and prom that she never had,” Lisa said.
Then, the couple sat at a table on the stage and took turns applying glue and coffee grounds to the image to complete Jenaé’s eyebrows.
The image had been assembled by a Lifeline volunteer in California based on a photograph the family had chosen of Jenaé in a dance costume with a flower in her hair.
“It comes to life. I just think it’s beautiful. They did an awesome job,” Lisa said. “She’s right there smiling down on all of us.”
While the remainder of the float, according to Rose Bowl rules, will be made of flowers, Jenaé’s floragraph, along with the others, will be added to the float in the days leading up to the parade. The Mcnichols family — 17 members in all — will be present in Pasadena to watch the float be assembled and pass along the parade route.
They plan to make the most of their trip and visit Disneyland, Tom said.
At the completion of the floragraph, the family stood near it to receive hugs and well-wishes from the crowd that had come.
They have come a long way in the healing process since May 2013, Tom said, and though the loss of Jenae will forever leave an empty place in their hearts, they are thankful that their daughter is still giving life.
“You never want to lose a loved one. But knowing that her organs are living through somebody else...organ donation is so important,” Tom said. “It just helps me with coping knowing that her two kidneys and her liver and her two corneas are out there. And I know she’s living through that.”