2010 Person of the Year
Alex O’Loughlin was the 2010 Donate Life Hollywood person of the year!
The 2010 Person of the Year nominees were:
Natalie Cole – Throughout Ms. Cole’s struggle with kidney disease she has used public appearances to educate and inform her fans about dialysis, the transplant waiting list, the process of living donation and more. After receiving a kidney transplant from a deceased donor, Ms. Cole met her donor family and thanked them personally for their deeply generous gift. Ms. Cole now uses opportunities like media coverage of her birthday to share how thankful she is for the gift of life and looks for ways to honor her donor and donor family.
Les Moonves – As the President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation Mr. Moonves had the ultimate authority to invest in Three Rivers and put it on the air. With this decision CBS saved 12 lives with 8 episodes of “Three Rivers.” Thousands more signed up on their state donor registries because of the show. And perhaps most impressive and important, “Three Rivers” is seen as the reason for a national 7% increase American’s positive feelings about organ donation, which Donate Life Hollywood has dubbed “The Three Rivers Effect.” Donate Life organizations, who coordinate public education programs to increase the number of Americans registering as organ and tissue donors, have been privileged to invest in and partner with CBS affiliates around the nation because of “Three Rivers” and all Donate Life supporters, including transplant recipients and donor families, will remain forever grateful and honored that CBS found our stories worthy of placing on prime time.
Alex O’Loughlin – Alex first became involved with organ donation when he was cast as the lead transplant surgeon in CBS’s medical drama “Three Rivers.” On the show he proudly wore a Donate Life pin on his doctor’s coat on each episode and filmed a CBS Cares PSA to encourage American’s to register as donors. He has been trained as a Donate Life Hollywood Ambassador and extended the training to the cast and crew of Three Rivers. Alex’s fan clubs have taken on the Donate Life message and initiated donor registry and fundraising efforts as a way to support Alex. He has proved accessible to the Donate Life community in many ways, including providing a greeting for the International organ donation conference.
Chris Klug – Chris is the only organ recipient to have competed in the Olympics, either winter or summer. This three-time Olympian and 2002 Bronze Medalist in snowboarding utilizes the Olympic platform to raise awareness about organ donation around the globe. Chris has written a book, “To the Edge and Back”, chronicling his transplant experiences, as well as producing multiple video projects, including his personal documentary “Ride of Your Life” and the soon to be released Chris Klug Foundation educational video project targeting health and drivers education classes about the importance of organ donation and making an educated decision.
Alex Band – Alex Band may be best known as the lead singer from The Calling, but he is best known in the Donate Life community for his support for organ and tissue donation. In 2005 Alex found out that someone in his family would eventually need a liver transplant. From that point on Alex has worked to spread the word about organ donation to his fans through his concerts and fan-based web pages all over world that direct people to Donate Life America. There are a staggering number of people coming to the Donate Life website from Alex Band pages. Alex does at least one yearly “Alex Band Donate Life Rocks Concerts” to promote organ donation and Alex’s fans do a yearly calendar sale with pictures from all his concerts from the previous year with proceeds going to Donate Life America. Alex has done dozens of interviews on radio and TV talking about the importance of organ donation and he never misses an opportunity to spread the message. Most recently, Alex had “Donate Life” tattooed on his forearm.