Did you see Bonnie Lundy-Kwan during the 120th Rose Parade on New Year's Day?

The 37-year-old native of San Antonio - an endurance runner, avid cyclist, general fitness enthusiast and executive director of a nonprofit agency- was the one with the big heart.

Actually, it's her second.

The first, her original, failed. At age 17, viral cardiomyopathy, a vicious virus, attacked it, eventually putting her on a transplant list. In 1992, at age 21, a new heart was made possible by a family that turned their tragedy into triumph.

As a living, breathing organ recipient and major proponent of organ donation, Lundy-Kwan is glad to wave, smile and ride on a parade float on almost any day. But the Donate Life Rose Parade Float has a deeper purpose beyond celebrating a new year or a football game. It seeks to raise awareness about the urgent need for organ, eye and tissue donation.

"The registry just hit 100,000 people needing a transplant," Lundy-Kwan said. "Two years ago, it was 92,000."

How many organs are available for transplant in the U.S.?

"It's not 100,000," said

Lundy-Kwan, who runs Transplants for Children, a nonprofit agency serving children awaiting transplants and those who've already received them.

The need for more organ, tissue and eye donors is a major issue for the 60 organizations behind this float, including tissue banks, state donor registries and transplant centers.

The Donate Life float featured "floragraphs" - portraits created with flowers and floral materials - of organ donors, including one of someone especially important to Lundy-Kwan: Shay Ledbetter. Ledbetter was the young woman who died in 1992 and whose heart beats inside of her.