Merle Zuel, a Bonner Springs resident and heart transplant recipient, was selected to ride atop a float in the New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. Zuel is one of five national winners of the Astellas Ride of a Lifetime essay contest.

Merle Zuel rode in a few hometown parades as a youngster growing up in Osawatomie.

In a few weeks, Zuel will take a prominent spot in one of the most prestigious parades in the world.

Zuel was selected to ride atop a float in the New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. The honor came when the recent heart transplant recipient was chosen as one of five national winners of the Astellas Ride of a Lifetime essay contest (sponsored by Astellas Pharma US). The company is creating a float named “Stars of Life” as a celebration of individuals whose lives have been touched by transplantation.

A longtime Lawrence resident who recently relocated to Bonner Springs, Zuel was active as a booking agent/music promoter throughout the area before his health deteriorated to where he needed the critical operation. In February of last year, he received a new heart.

“Overall my health has been good. My heart is still going strong,” says the 45-year-old Zuel.

Zuel’s essay detailed not just how he came to warrant needing a transplant, but also the amount of time he’s donated to the cause since receiving it. “Now I attack life and have much love in my heart for everyone who helped me through this ordeal,” Zuel wrote, explaining how in addition to regular patient visits and volunteering, he organized two MerleJam benefit concerts that raised more than $11,000 for transplant social services.

“Merle is a great example of how organ transplantation can allow recipients to achieve their goals and truly be a ‘star for life,'” says Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee. “I hope people around the country are inspired by stories like Merle’s and take steps to register as organ donors.”

Zuel will actually help work on the float. Joining him will be his girlfriend, Kim Cramer, a respiratory therapist he met at St. Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., who helped him through the transplantation process. He will also be introduced to 25 fellow float riders whose lives have been transformed by organ, eye and tissue donations.

“Our goal is to simply make people think about organ donation and the impact it has on everyday people,” Zuel says. “I know there are some other heart recipients in Lawrence and probably others who have been directly affected.”