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Axogen Patient to Ride the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade® Float Supporting awareness of organ and tissue donation
ALACHUA, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN), a global leader in developing and marketing innovative surgical
About this update from Axogen, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"ALACHUA, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN), a global leader in developing and marketing innovative surgical solutions for peripheral nerve injuries, today announced that Bri Majsiak, a Resensation® patient, has been selected to ride on the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade Float and Madelyn Nicpon will be honored at this year’s event through a floragraph that will adorn the float. The Tournament of Roses® parade takes place on January 2, 2023 in Pasadena. This is the tenth year Axogen has co-sponsored the Donate Life float to help raise awareness for the importance of organ and tissue donation. Bri Majsiak lost her mother to breast cancer when she was just five years old and growing up was concerned about her increased risk of breast cancer. In 2020, at the age of 26, she made a difficult decision to proactively undertake a prophylactic mastectomy followed by immediate breast reconstruction. She knew it would be a significant change to her body; one that she would carry with her for the rest of her life. One change she worried about was facing life with a numb chest, a side effect of mastectomy. During a mastectomy, the nerves that provide feeling to a patient’s breasts are cut when the breast tissue is removed. As a result, the patient can experience a range of partial to complete numbness. But thanks to a donor’s selfless gift of nerve tissue, Bri’s reconstructive surgical team was able to reconnect the nerves cut during her mastectomy to nerves in her reconstructed breast using Avance® Nerve Graft and the Resensation surgical technique. Over time, her nerves regenerated and restored feeling to her chest. This gift has allowed her to move forward and heal without numbness serving as a constant reminder. Madelyn (Madie) Nicpon was also an Avance Nerve Graft recipient whose life was improved by the gift of nerve tissue donation. In 2017, she underwent surgery to repair damage to her lingual nerve that occurred when her wisdom teeth were removed. In 2019, Madie rode on the Donate Life Float during the Rose Parade. This experience had a profound impact on Madie, leading her to become a registered organ donor and she passionately encouraged others to do the same. Tragically Madie passed away suddenly in 2021, but because Madie was an organ and tissue donor, her kindness lives on in other...