OLATHE, Kan. — Parents of an Olathe teen traveled to Monday’s Rose Parade to see Jayme Sue Louque on a float honoring donor heroes.
Louque died in 2021, but her legacy lives on.
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“We were just anticipating the float coming down Colorado Boulevard, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the feathers on the headdress. That’s the first thing I spotted and everyone else saying, ‘It’s coming. It’s coming,’” her mother Wendy Louque said.
That anticipation for families like Wendy and Bryan Louque was because of whose face was on that float in one of the world’s most famous parades.
“Walking into the warehouse and seeing her floragraph placed, so many heartstrings are tugged this entire time,” Wendy said.
Jayme Sue Louque was born with Dandy Walker Syndrome. She died at age 14 from cardiac arrest. Her organ donation helped save five lives, including St. Louis native Malkia White, who received her kidney.
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More than 1,000 people helped with the One Legacy Donate Life Rose Parade float, including the Louques, who put the finishing touches on her floragraph to be sent off in November. They were also in Pasadena, California, with other families to help decorate it this weekend.
“It’s really interesting, the stories. I look around and I see a lot of faces like mine,” Bryan said.
He’s not just the father of a donor, but also twice the recipient of a kidney himself. One of them was his wife’s. They hope Jayme’s inclusion in Monday’s Rose Parade will help the more than one million people in need of organ, eye and tissue transplants.
“I just think it’s an important reminder that none of us are promised tomorrow and to live life to the fullest and be very intentional about how we act towards each other,” Wendy said.
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Though bittersweet, as a hero donor, they say it’s not the end of Jayme’s story.
“To watch the float go away, to watch Jayme go down Colorado Boulevard with the smile on her face, that’s exactly the way she would have wanted it,” Bryan said.
White, the kidney transplant recipient, said previously she’d be watching Monday’s parade with pride, as so many people were New Year’s Day across the Kansas City metro.
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