Texas Organ Sharing Alliance. (2018, November 8). ‘Messages in the Sky’ Balloon Release Event to Celebrate Organ Donors [Press release]. Retrieved from: https://laprensatexas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018_Messages-In-the-Sky.pdf
San Antonio, TX — November 8, 2018 — Families from across Central Texas will unite to script messages for their loved ones at the Messages in the Sky Memorial Balloon Release on Sunday, November 11. Local organ transplant recipients – some of whom received their transplant from a registered organ donor – will also thank donor families whose consent to organ donation provided them with a second chance at life. The Messages in the Sky Memorial Balloon Release, hosted by Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA), will start at 3 p.m. at The Oblate School of Theology – Whitley Theological Center, 285 Oblate Dr. in San Antonio. TOSA is the organ procurement organization providing organ recovery services for Central & South Texas.
In 2017, TOSA assisted a record of 170 individuals in becoming organ donors, providing 568 organs to patients in Central & South Texas. Their lifesaving gifts offer hope to the nearly 11,000 people who are waiting for an organ transplant in Texas. As part of the ceremony, eight honorees representing the number of lives a single organ donor can save, will carry pictures depicting their connection to donation before releasing balloons in honor of our heroic donors. Families are also invited to bring photographs of their loved ones. TOSA’s Micah Williams will serve as the event keynote speaker. Williams, an Organ Recovery Coordinator, will discuss his role in the donation process and also recount his first-time meeting with the lung recipient of one of TOSA’s previous donors. Recipient Norma Espinoza will join Williams and six others as members of the event’s honorees. TOSA was recently named a Top Workplace by the San Antonio Express-News who captured Micah’s first time meeting with Norma and shared about TOSA’s mission in a special Top Workplace Video. For more information about organ donation or to sign up as a donor, visit www.TOSA1.org.
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Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is one of 58 federally designated Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) in the United States. Founded in 1975 as a not-for-profit corporation, TOSA covers 56 counties in Central and South Texas. TOSA is committed to providing organ donation and recovery services to families wishing to donate, and to those waiting for a life- saving organ transplant.
