CRANBERRY TWP — Kidney transplant recipient Nikki McKenna will get to spend the new year in Pasadena, Calif., with her husband and family helping to spread organ transplant awareness while riding in the Tournament of Roses Parade.

The New Year's Day parade is the precursor for NCAA College Football's 96th annual Rose Bowl, this year pitting Ohio State versus Oregon.

McKenna, 30, of Cranberry Township was one of five winners selected for the trip through Astellas Pharma US and its "The Ride of A Lifetime" essay contest. She will ride on the Donate Life float in the parade.

She was to leave today on her trip.

Astellas is a Japanese manufacturer of an anti-rejection drug for transplant patients.

McKenna has used the drug since her transplant.

This was not the first time McKenna tried to win the contest, recalling past essays she wrote about how she got kidney disease.

Her winning essay focused on how the disease impacted her life and made her a positive person.

"The Ride of a Lifetime" contest winners overcame great challenges, and it is through the miracle of organ transplantation that they can share their stories today," said Maribeth Landwehr, director for communications for Astellas.

The Donate Life Float is themed "New Life Rises," which features a phoenix, the mythical symbol of life coming out of death.

The symbol represents those who give life in their passing and the people whose lives are renewed by the gifts.

To honor the inspiring stories of the five winners and the other 182 transplant recipients who submitted essays to the contest, Astellas is buying rose dedications to be placed on the float.

The roses will be tagged with each contest entrant's name and placed on the float in the Family Circle Garden, a living memorial to honor transplant recipients and donors.

McKenna was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney disease at age 14.

The symptoms that led to the diagnosis aren't what most people would have expected.

She said one of her legs became swollen. McKenna said because she was active in sports in school, she really didn't think anything of it, at first. It didn't even hurt.

But then her second leg started to swell. A trip to the doctor revealed her kidney disease.

She was on numerous medications for several years before her kidneys began to deteriorate.

At first, doctors didn't want to perform a transplant because they were not sure if McKenna's condition was hereditary. But when both of McKenna's kidneys failed and dialysis would not work, the transplant was approved.

She had been placed on the national transplant waiting list, but her father, Bernie Redlinger, who works for US Airways and lives in Mount Washington, was found to be the same blood type as McKenna and a suitable donor.

Redlinger recalled the impact of seeing his daughter, a 16-year-old, receiving dialysis treatments next to elderly patients.

"I don't think anyone wants to see their child on dialysis," Redlinger said. "I never gave it another thought on donating my kidney."

It has been 11 years since the transplant, and McKenna is in good health. Since then, she has graduated from college and gotten married.

She also has been able to take up fitness and sports again, including walking, camping, hiking and playing basketball.

Last year, McKenna played volleyball, basketball and tennis at the U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh.

"Nikki's a good kid. She sure spreads the word about kidney disease and the National Kidney Foundation," Redlinger said.

McKenna said more than 100,000 people currently are on the waiting list for an organ and about 18 people die each day as they wait for a donor.

She would like to spread the word that organ donation is a good thing and that donors are never forgotten.