Lake Hefner 5K Honors Trainer Who Gave Kidney to a Stranger

Runners and walkers will gather at Lake Hefner's Stars and Stripes Park on September 19 for the Little Red Heart 5K, an annual Oklahoma City race that honors organ, eye and tissue donors while raising money for donation awareness across the state. This year's event carries a personal tribute: it will remember Tadd Parett, an athletic trainer and fitness instructor who used a wheelchair, earned two degrees, and stayed committed to fitness and wellness before his family learned after his death that he had wanted to be an organ donor.

The race is hosted by the LifeShare Foundation, and as The Journal Record reports, more than 800 Oklahomans are expected to take part. Participants can register for a USATF-certified 5K race, a one-mile walk, or both, with sign-ups available at littleredheart5k.org. Parett's kidney was donated to another man, a gift that helped improve the recipient's quality of life, while tissue from his donation was used to advance medical research.

What the Event Honors

Beyond the race itself, the Little Red Heart 5K is built to celebrate life, honor organ, eye and tissue donors, pay tribute to transplant recipients, offer hope to people still waiting for a transplant, and remember those who died while waiting for an organ. A memorial garden at the event will honor people with a personal connection to organ, eye and tissue donation, and families can purchase yard signs featuring a photograph and short quote to mark their own loved ones.

The need behind the event remains substantial. More than 800 Oklahomans were actively waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant as of mid-2026, according to LifeShare Oklahoma. That urgency is compounded by tight medical timelines: hearts and lungs must be transplanted within four hours of retrieval, while kidneys can remain viable for up to 40 hours, per INTEGRIS Health, which notes Oklahoma City serves as a hub for regional transplant programs like the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute.

Family Fun Alongside the Fundraising

Stars and Stripes Park will offer family-friendly activities on race day, including a kids zone with face painting, photo backdrops and a playscape. Volunteer and sponsorship opportunities remain available for those who want to support the event without lacing up running shoes.

Fundraising from the race has grown alongside participation in past years. The 2024 Little Red Heart 5K raised $85,519 for the LifeShare Foundation with support from more than 800 individual and team participants, the organization has reported. Registration for the 2026 race is set at $40 for the 5K run and one-mile walk, with a discounted $20 rate for children 12 and under and a $25 virtual entry option, according to details published on littleredheart5k.org.

The Bigger Picture on Donation in Oklahoma

The Little Red Heart name traces back to a simple symbol: when Oklahomans register as organ and tissue donors through Service Oklahoma locations, a red heart is printed directly onto their driver's license or state ID card, according to LifeShare University. Those tag agencies transmit registration reports daily to the LifeShare Donor Registry.

That registration system has helped push Oklahoma's statewide donor registration rate to 66.3% by early 2026, per LifeShare Oklahoma's own figures. In 2025, LifeShare Network says it saved 600 lives across the state through organ recovery made possible by 256 deceased donor heroes, along with gifts from 949 tissue donors. That built on 2024, when LifeShare facilitated 746 organ transplants statewide, a 14.9% increase over 2023, providing 645 people with transplants from 273 donor heroes — marking the organization's 11th consecutive year of milestone increases.

LifeShare, which serves as Oklahoma's sole federally designated organ procurement organization, also unveiled a permanent Donor Memorial in May 2025 displaying the names of organ, eye and tissue donors from across the state, giving donor families a year-round space for reflection beyond the annual race's temporary memorial garden. The nonprofit was also named an Oklahoma Top Workplace for the sixth consecutive year in December 2024, based on anonymous employee surveys conducted by research firm Energage.