Two local judges got a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the 2017 Rose Bowl Parade Monday and raise awareness about the growing need for organ donors.
Judge Derek Mosley and Judge JoAnn Eiring met back in 2003.
More than a decade later, the pair's friendship is stronger than ever after Eiring donated a kidney to save Mosley's life.
Mosley and Eiring marched in read shirts at the parade. Eiring's shirt read "donor," while Mosley's shirt read "recipient."
"There's nothing I can do to repay her for what she did for me," Mosley said via Skype Monday.
Eiring donated a kidney to Mosley who was diagnosed with end stage renal disease.
"If we can just get the story out that it doesn't matter your color, sex or size, all kidneys are pink," Mosley said. "You can save a life."
With that mission in mind, the two traveled more than 2,000 miles to Pasadena, California where they were able to raise awareness in front of tens of thousands of people.
"As we were going by, it was as if they (the people in attendance) were waiting for us," Eiring said. "Everyone was so happy and smiling!"
Mosley said he even got to connect with random strangers who showed a great deal of support for their pair's goal to raise awareness.
"I met a guy whose son passed away and he donated all his organs and tissue," Mosley said. "He asked if I would do him a favor and take a picture of his son with me in the parade route so he could be there with me. I carried this picture along the route just for him."
More than 2,000 people in Wisconsin are in need of life saving organs.
Click here for more information about becoming an organ donor.
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