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!"