Donate Life Rose Parade Float | Rose Dedication Event

Natal­ie (Nato) Marie McCleary grew up in the close-knit com­mu­ni­ty of Fruit­land, Iowa. Raised by a devot­ed stay-at-home moth­er and a father who cher­ished spoil­ing her and her broth­er with hayrack and gator rides after work, Natal­ie thrived in the warmth of her fam­i­ly and the small-town envi­ron­ment.

Natal­ie excelled aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly and embraced extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties, such as vol­ley­ball, bas­ket­ball, and soft­ball, show­cas­ing her ath­let­ic tal­ent. Her pas­sion for dra­ma shone through mid­dle school plays, but her true gift lay in music. A skilled pianist, Natal­ie con­sis­tent­ly won com­pe­ti­tions, her per­for­mances leav­ing a last­ing impres­sion.

Known for her play­ful spir­it, Natal­ie delight­ed teach­ers and fam­i­ly with her ​“dad jokes.” Her final joke, shared with loved ones, was, ​“Why did the kid eat his home­work? Because the teacher said it was a piece of cake!” With a grin, she declared it ​“a knee slap­per,” spread­ing joy even in sim­ple moments.

Trag­i­cal­ly, Natal­ie qui­et­ly bat­tled depres­sion, keep­ing her pain to her­self, and on Decem­ber 3, 2022, she made the heart­break­ing deci­sion to take her own life. She was tak­en to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa Children’s Hos­pi­tal, where her fam­i­ly fought along­side her. Despite efforts, Natalie’s death was declared on Decem­ber 7.

Through­out her life, Natal­ie demon­strat­ed a heart for oth­ers, often donat­ing her hair. Her fam­i­ly knew she would have want­ed to help oth­ers through organ dona­tion. By being a donor, Natalie’s lega­cy endured. Her fam­i­ly stayed by her side, receiv­ing sup­port from the Iowa Donor Net­work dur­ing this pro­found­ly dif­fi­cult time. On Sat­ur­day at 9:30 AM, friends and fam­i­ly lined the halls for Natalie’s hon­or walk, where they shared their final words with her.

Through her action, Natal­ie saved six lives, includ­ing a 9‑year-old girl who received her heart. Iowa Donor Net­work con­tin­ues to sup­port Natalie’s fam­i­ly, hon­or­ing her mem­o­ry and pro­vid­ing com­fort through the knowl­edge that her gen­eros­i­ty lives on.

Natalie’s sto­ry is a pow­er­ful reminder of the impact organ dona­tion can have. By reg­is­ter­ing as an organ donor, any­one can car­ry a lega­cy of hope and heal­ing, just like Natal­ie. Con­sid­er being an organ donor to make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of oth­ers.

Christ­mas Eve of 2018, my mom was rushed by ambu­lance to the hos­pi­tal. Test­ing indi­cated she had non-alco­holic cir­rho­sis of the liv­er. Doc­tors explained that although she was very sick, her MELD score was not high enough to be a pri­or­i­ty on the trans­plant list and it was very unlike­ly that she would get a deceased donor liv­er before the dis­ease would take her life. They said her only chance for sur­vival would be a liv­ing donor.

My sis­ter and I both stepped for­ward but since I was a smok­er and need­ed to quit for at least 30 days, she went through the process first. My sister went through the test­ing only to find out that the anato­my of her liv­er was­n’t a match for my mom. Since I had been smoke-free for near­ly 3 months at that point, Mayo asked if I want­ed to go through test­ing and of course, I said YES! I was cleared to donate on August 21 and surgery took place on Octo­ber 21, 2019.

See­ing my mom’s life impact­ed in such a pos­i­tive way, led me to become an advo­cate for organ dona­tion – encour­ag­ing oth­ers to check yes and con­sid­er becom­ing a liv­ing donor. In addi­tion, her improved health and meet­ing so many kid­ney recip­i­ents and donors at the Trans­plant Games of Amer­i­ca, encour­aged me to become a liv­ing kid­ney donor! As of Novem­ber 13, 2024, I wear the title of dou­ble donor with hon­or.

My mom has got­ten to see 2 of her grand­chil­dren get sober and has been able to see 3 grand­chil­dren grad­u­ate high school and 3 grad­u­ate col­lege not to men­tion she has been able to meet 2 of her great grand­daugh­ters.

Although I did not know her before surgery, I have been able to con­nect with my recip­i­ent and her fam­i­ly. I am hap­py to report that Lind­sey no longer has to spend her time at dial­y­sis and my kid­ney is work­ing great for her!

I am still smoke-free and despite donat­ing both organs in my 40s, I feel bet­ter than ever, and I share our sto­ries every chance I get!