NASCAR driver Joey Gase will showcase his Donate Life AZ car featuring heart recipient Jayken Beal on the bumper at Phoenix Children‘s Hospital where he received his heart when he was only 16 years old.
The grand reveal of the car will begin Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. Join us at the hospital‘s main entrance at 1919 E. Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85016.
This story highlights how important Phoenix Children‘s partnership is with Donor Network of Arizona to make organ and tissue donation possible. It‘s what saved Jayken Beal‘s life.
After Beal was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), he was only given a 2% chance that he would survive longer than four days. He beat many odds and made it 16 years before he began to suffer from a Fontan heart failure. After one failed attempt at getting a heart that was fitting, the second attempt was successful.
His photo on the bumper of Gase‘s car will showcase that a transplant is more than just a surgery—it‘s a second chance at life for someone before his life even truly started.
Other pediatric patients, hospital staff and the public have been invited to place their handprint on the car or a message for others to read ahead of Saturday’s race.
After the appearance at Phoenix Children‘s Hospital Joey will race his number 35 Donate Life AZ car with all the messages of Hope and honoree Jaken Beal in hopes to have fans realize how important organ, eye, and tissue donation is and to have them register to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.
“I did not fully realize the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation until unfortunately my mom lost her life to a sudden brain aneurysm,” said Gase. “When this happened our family said yes to organ donation and my mom was able to help save and improve the lives of 66 people. Since then we have been able to meet two of her recipients and this meant the world to us and it did to them and their families as well.”
— Emerling-Gase Motorsports —
