Meet Dawn Lyons-Wood

Dawn is an amazing advocate for organ donation and her inspiration is her late daughter, Emily. Due to a tragic snowmobile accident, Emily became an organ, tissue, and cornea donor at the age of 19. She saved the lives of six people, gave sight to two others, and improved the lives of 60 people in 22 states. She is Dawn's inspiration to be a better person, make the most of every opportunity, and do her part in making the world a kinder place.

"After Emily's accident, my life took a completely different path," says Dawn. "It is now my life's mission to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. I will spend every day promoting what I see as Em's final wish."

Dawn was born and raised in Sheboygan, but moved to Beaver Dam in 1995 with her family. She and her husband Michael have a beautiful blended family with seven children - Michela, Alexa, and Sally (all 22), Emmett (20), Kelly (18) and John (16). Emily was the oldest and would have been 24 years old.

Dawn is a Manager of Customer Service at Mittera Wisconsin, a multi-platform print, marketing and media company. She is a volunteer with the Lions Eye Back of Wisconsin, a transporter for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, a certified volunteer with UW Organ and Tissue Donation, a member of the Beaver Dam Lions Club, and a public speaker at various events and drivers education classes raising awareness of organ and tissue donation.

Dawn is a big fan of Rod Stewart and also has a slight infatuation with Uncle Kracker. She has seen both in concert six times. Personally, she doesn't consider herself a singer. Dawn says, "My father told me I should sing tenor?.ten or twelve blocks away from him." But occasionally she does play a mean tambourine!

She loves road trips and traveling with family and friends. She enjoys listening to live music and singing in the car when she's alone. She also enjoys home décor and painting. She embraces just about every opportunity that comes her way and loves to laugh and spend time with people that make her do so!

She has associate degree from Madison University (formerly MATC) in Tourism and Recreation and is a Board Member for the Chamber of Commerce.

She wants her fans to know she is scared for the Spotlight on Life dance competition. She chose to jump out of a plane for her 50th birthday this past July and THIS event makes her more nervous! "With everything in my life, I am surrounded by love, the best support system, the most amazing family, friends, and co-workers ever," says Dawn. "And I have a very beautiful angel that will make sure that I embrace this opportunity and have a wonderful time."

Meet Amanda Dicken

Amanda is an avid supporter of organ, tissue and eye donation. In July 2017, Amanda unexpectedly lost her 15-year-old sister Cori in an ATV accident. The family was notified the day of the accident that Cori had just signed up through the DMV donor registry in March 2017 to be an organ donor. Cori's eyes went to a patient in Israel, one of her kidneys to a person in Illinois and her heart, liver, pancreas, bone marrow and other tissues remained in Wisconsin. Amanda's family has met with her sister's heart and liver recipient.

"She loved everyone," Amanda said of her sister, who loved the outdoors and playing basketball. "No matter who the person was or how they acted, she always made them smile."

Amanda has been a guest speaker at the Douglas T. Miller Symposium on Organ Donation and Transplantation, hosted by UW Health and the family hosts Cruising to Remember Cori (all wheel's welcome) every year to raise money for Pardeeville School for scholarships in Cori McBride's name to anyone going into the medical field.

Amanda also supports organ donation in her work life. She is a Transportation Customer Representative for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and her role is to encourage people to sign up to be an organ donor and create awareness for organ donation. She is also an organ and tissue donation (OTD) volunteer.

Amanda and her husband Pete have four children - Austin, Alyssa, Alexis and RaeLynn. Her home town is Pardeeville, WI. She loves country music and her favorite song is Drowning by Chris Young and Heaven by Kane Brown.

Amanda is very excited for the Spotlight on Life Gala. "I have never heard of this event,' says Amanda. "I accepted the challenge as it's something I've never experienced before and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Anything to spread awareness for organ donation - I am all for that!"

Meet Peter Cerniglia

Eighty years young, Peter is a lifelong advocate for donation! While officially "retired," he is a Lion's Eye Bank of Wisconsin (LEBW) Transporter and volunteer. Before retirement, he worked at LEBW recovering corneal tissue and as a hospital development coordinator. He helped to start the LEBW Transporter system, coined as the "Corneal Express." He has helped raise over $500k for Restoring Hope Transplant House, $500k for Lions research labs at UW-DOVS and $200k for UW Lions Pediatric Eye Clinic.

"I have always loved to dance and have a passion for raising awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation," says Peter. "I have been involved in donation for over 40 years."

Peter's hometown is Madison, Wisconsin where he lives with his wife Joanne. They have 3 children - Gina, Vincent and Scott - and 6 grandchildren. His favorite song is, It's Now or Never, Elvis Presley

Peter served in the US Army Military Police and belongs to the American Legion Post 245 in Cross Plains.

Peter is very involved in supporting the community. He is a Cross Plains Lions Club member, Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin Board member, Transporter and volunteer and Italian Workman's Club member.

Heidi was born with a rare genetic disorder called glycogen storage disease. For the first 25 years of her life this disorder controlled, but did not define her. Glycogen storage disease (GSD) caused her blood sugars to rapidly decline day or night without a consistent source of glucose. Since birth her routine consisted of nightly NG tube feedings, consistent blood sugar checks, and frequent hospitalizations along with numerous visits to medical specialists. During one visit to the ER it was found that her blood sugar was at a level 12, yet she was alert enough to converse.

During that time she was able to attend college and obtain two degrees. She barely finished nursing school when she found out she would need a liver transplant. She was referred to a local transplant center since her liver had grown over 30 tumors (a common occurrence of GSD) the largest being the size of grapefruit.

On August 24 2005 she received her life-saving transplant. She now works as an RN on the transplant unit at Froedtert Hospital; the same unit where she was once a patient. She has provided hope, care, and encouragement for her patients for the last 14 years as they embark on their new journeys.

She and her husband Mike have two wonderful children, Brianna and Logan. She enjoys many activities with her family that she would not have physically been able to before. She enjoys going to the YMCA, reading, crafting with her children, and dancing when she think no one's looking. She and her family are forever grateful for this gift and opportunity to live life to the fullest.

As an unfortunate side-effect of her anti-rejection medications she is now in need of a kidney transplant. She and her family are hopeful for yet another miracle, but she still embraces life with a positive outlook.

Heidi is a ray of hope and says "I'm so excited to participate in this wonderful event!"

Angie is a Hospital Relations Liaison for Versiti Organ & Tissue Donation. She works on the organ procurement team and is intimately familiar with the long list of patients who are waiting for the gift of life. Her work ensures that the organ donation process goes smoothly.

"I'm just excited about this opportunity and to help spread awareness," says Angie. "I love helping in any way I can to make the world a little brighter."

Angie's hometown is White Bear Lake, Minnesota and she loves country music and oldies, like the Rat Pack or Elvis. She can play the alto saxophone and has been a cheerleader since she was 13 (middle school cheer, high school cheer, Allstar competition cheer, collegiate coed cheer, and finally Green Bay Packers cheerleader). She is also a Coach to the Stingray Allstar Cheerleading.

"I have such a fulfilling job," says Angie. "I want to be an advocate for donation of any kind. When the opportunity came along to dance for Spotlight on Life, I was excited to combine my two favorite passions - a bit of cheerleading and organ donation."

Angie and her husband Josh have two children - Weston (4 yr old) and Siena (1 yr old). They live in Mukwonago and also have two cats, two bunnies, & a tortoise. Angie enjoys traveling with her family, road trips to anywhere, taking her kids to the park and attending concerts. She is also an avid wildlife advocate and has been involved in rehabilitating wildlife (even African Penguins in Africa).

In July of 2009, Devyn lost her mother to domestic violence. As a nurse in the OB department, her mother brought life into the world every day, so Devyn could not think of a better way to honor her life than to give life to someone else. In August of 2015, she became a non-directed living kidney donor at the age of 21. She was very lucky to receive a letter from her recipients' mother about 6 months after surgery. She described the new life that her young daughter was able to live because of Devyn's gift. She later found out that her recipient was 15 years old, the same age Devyn was when her mom died.

"Organ donation is a cause very close to my heart, says Devyn, "I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate 4.5 healthy, post-op years than dancing in the Spotlight on Life!"

Devyn is the oldest of four children - a brother and 2 sisters. She was raised by her grandparents in Warrens, WI and now resides in Madison.

Devyn has a bachelor's degree in Organizational and Professional Communication from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is currently working on her master's degree at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Devyn is very engaged in the community. She is co-founder and committee member of the Remembering Teresa Organization in memory of her mother, NO MORE (to end domestic violence) member, End Domestic Abuse WI volunteer, Wisconsin Department of Justice survivor speaker, National Kidney Registry, American Hero award recipient honorably received at "Season of Miracles Gala", Georgetown University research on altruism study participant, UW Organ and Tissue Donation, and Exact Sciences Community Committee member.

Devyn is the current Miss Wisconsin for America and works as a Human Resources Generalist at Exact Sciences.

Racheal and Nykia are dancing in the Spotlight on Life Gala to spread the message of hope that organ donation brings.

They share a special connection - something that very few people will experience: Racheal's son Dylan (pictured below) passed away and Nykia received his heart.

Nykia has had a long health journey since 2015. While she was working at Time Warner Cable, she was having difficulty breathing and was coughing excessively. After a misdiagnosis as a virus, she finally found answers at Aurora when they determined her heart was functioning at 5%. Her journey to transplant was rigorous and met with infection, blood transfusions, stroke and constant trips to the hospital. Her medical team worked with Nykia including medications, a defibulator, an LVAD and eventually being added to the transplant list.

There was light at the end of the tunnel when she got the call that a heart was available. Her reaction - "Am I dreaming or is this really happening?" On August 7th, 2018 it did happen and Nykia received a life-saving heart.

If you met Nykia today, you would never know she was a heart recipient. Her message about organ donation is "I want to help spread the word," says Nykia. "People should know how important it is. Before this, I hadn't thought about it very much, but you never know when you might need an organ, so be an advocate for organ donation."

Racheal's son Dylan died in August 2018 of a heroin overdose. She is not only an avid advocate for organ donation, but also for those battling addiction. As a parent who lost her child to addiction, she wants to bring light to the subject of organ donation and what that can mean for the donor family. "Many addicts don't feel they have any worth," says Racheal. "Organ donation gave Dylan something to leave behind - some more worth in the end of life." In addition to his heart, Dylan donated both kidneys and lungs, his pancreas and liver.

Racheal and her husband Chris have 3 other sons - Devon (22), Dante (20) and Christopher Jr. (18). They also have a 14 month old granddaughter, Skye Dylan.

In September 2019, Racheal and Nykia met for the first time. Nykia wanted to give something to her donor family. At one of her appointments, her doctor gave her an echo recording of her heartbeat. She put that recording in a Build-A-Bear bear and gave it to Racheal so she could always hear Dylan's heart.

"I hope that more people can experience something like this," said Racheal. "I think it's amazing. I feel blessed and grateful."

Racheal and Nykia will dance to "I'll See You Again" by Carrie Underwood.

This group is made up of individuals impacted by living donation. Please read below to hear the stories of Lilliana and Katie!

Lilliana Lucente (kidney recipient) and

Rhiannon Lucente (Living donor)

Lilliana (pictured to the left) was born on June 13, 2011 a strong and beautiful baby girl. She got her first cold shortly before her second birthday and ended up in the emergency room with a diagnosis of necrotizing strep pneumonia, which caused a blood disease that triggered Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. The Lucente family watched their baby undergo more blood transfusions, surgeries, and rounds of dialysis than one can count over two months living at Children's Hospital.

They celebrated Lilliana's second birthday in the hospital a week after she woke from her coma. Due to the coma Lilliana had to relearn how to hold up her head, how to sit up and, lastly how to walk. She began hemodialysis 3-4x a week and then then had a peritoneal catheter placed they began nightly dialysis at home. Lilliana had end stage kidney failure and would have to be put on the list for a kidney donor.

Fortunately Lillian's cousin Rhiannon Lucente wanted to donate and was a match! Six months after her initial hospitalization Lilliana received her cousin's kidney on December 5, 2013.

Katie Babcock (kidney recipient) and

Caden Lambie (living donor)

(pictured together to the left)

In December 2018, Katie was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure at the age of 14. It was completely silent and a total shock to her family. Katie had no past medical history, was an avid swimmer, and just started high school. She began peritoneal dialysis at home, which was very challenging. It was painful and she was up several times a night in pain especially during the drain cycles. Following a renal diet was a challenge and the family struggled with her gaining weight as they tried to balance potassium and phosphorus intake. School was a struggle due to missing so many days. She could no longer be on the swim team, which was her passion and had to stop any contact sports. They struggled with peritoneal dialysis for 9 months and it was determined a living donor was Katie's best option

Caden Lambie is a certified nursing assistant at Meriter Hospital in Madison. He was friends with one of Katie's sisters. He heard about Katie and immediately asked to be tested as a living kidney donor. He told the family he was more worried about NOT being a match than actually being one. He was a match and he never had regrets throughout this process. He says "The opportunity to donate to Katie was the best decision I have made. I would trade much more than a kidney to gain all that I have through this experience, and if I had the opportunity to do it all over, I would do it again without any hesitation."

On October 30, 2019 Caden donated his kidney to Katie.