Navajo baby remembered on float

Navajo infant donor memorialized in Rose Parade

By Alysa LandryJoseph Quiambao was only 4 months old when he died in March 1998.

His mother, Bernadette Tohtsoni, plans to memorialize him Saturday during the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. Tohtsoni is a member of the Navajo tribe.

A flower portrait of Joseph, who was an organ donor, will be one of 60 memorials decorating the Donate Life float in the 2011 Rose Parade. Donate Life recognizes people who donated organs or tissues to those desperately in need of transplants.

"I prayed for a miracle to save my son's life," Tohtsoni said in a prepared statement. "Instead the miracle was that Joseph was able to save the lives of two baby girls. I didn't want another mother to suffer the loss of their precious child."Comment:  For more on Natives in the Rose Parade, see Brulé in Rose Parade and Brings Plenty in Rose Parade.