Yvonne Dove, a 65-year-old liver transplant recipient, was this year’s Cedars-Sinai float rider on the Donate Life float at the Rose Parade. Dove helped decorate the float on Dec. 29 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Dove, a Los Angeles resident who was suffering from hepatitis C and liver cancer, received a liver transplant in 2012, two-and-a-half years after being put on the transplant list. Today, Dove is cancer free and living a full life as a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and hospital volunteer. “The transplant changed everything, from the way I eat, to my outlook on life,” Dove says.
Dove volunteers twice a week as a transplant ambassador at Cedars-Sinai, meeting with patients and offering practical and emotional support to pre- and post-transplant patients. “I try to give them peace of mind,” Dove says. “I try to encourage them and let them know it’s going to be okay, because when I was going through the transplant I had a volunteer who did that for me, and I will never forget her.”
