Axogen Patient to Ride the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade® Float Supporting awareness of organ and tissue donation

ALACHUA, Fla. and TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AXGN), a global leader in developing and marketing innovative surgical solutions for peripheral nerve injuries, today announced that Bri Majsiak, a Resensation^® patient, has been selected to ride on the 2023 Donate Life Rose Parade Float and Madelyn Nicpon will be honored at this year’s event through a floragraph that will adorn the float. The Tournament of Roses^® parade takes place on January 2, 2023 in Pasadena. This is the tenth year Axogen has co-sponsored the Donate Life float to help raise awareness for the importance of organ and tissue donation.

Bri Majsiak lost her mother to breast cancer when she was just five years old and growing up was concerned about her increased risk of breast cancer. In 2020, at the age of 26, she made a difficult decision to proactively undertake a prophylactic mastectomy followed by immediate breast reconstruction. She knew it would be a significant change to her body; one that she would carry with her for the rest of her life. One change she worried about was facing life with a numb chest, a side effect of mastectomy.

During a mastectomy, the nerves that provide feeling to a patient’s breasts are cut when the breast tissue is removed. As a result, the patient can experience a range of partial to complete numbness. But thanks to a donor’s selfless gift of nerve tissue, Bri’s reconstructive surgical team was able to reconnect the nerves cut during her mastectomy to nerves in her reconstructed breast using Avance^® Nerve Graft and the Resensation surgical technique. Over time, her nerves regenerated and restored feeling to her chest. This gift has allowed her to move forward and heal without numbness serving as a constant reminder.

Madelyn (Madie) Nicpon was also an Avance Nerve Graft recipient whose life was improved by the gift of nerve tissue donation. In 2017, she underwent surgery to repair damage to her lingual nerve that occurred when her wisdom teeth were removed. In 2019, Madie rode on the Donate Life Float during the Rose Parade. This experience had a profound impact on Madie, leading her to become a registered organ donor and she passionately encouraged others to do the same. Tragically Madie passed away suddenly in 2021, but because Madie was an organ and tissue donor, her kindness lives on in others. Her kidneys have altered the lives of two women, and her tissue, bone and nerves will help countless people. This is only fitting, as she was quoted in a 2019 newspaper article stating that organ and tissue donation “is not just about saving lives, it is also about improving quality of life.”

“We support Donate Life and share stories like Bri and Madie’s to help inspire others to register as organ and tissue donors,” said Karen Zaderej, chairman, CEO, and president of Axogen. “Each donor provides the opportunity to save lives and improve the quality of life for many people.”

About Donate Life America
Donate Life America (DLA) is a nonprofit organization leading its national partners and Donate Life State Teams to increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissues available to save and heal lives through transplantation while developing a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility.

DLA manages and promotes Donate Life℠, the national brand for the cause of donation; motivates the public to register as organ, eye and tissue donors; provides education about living donation; manages the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org; and develops and executes effective multi-media campaigns to promote donation.

About Axogen
Axogen (AXGN) is the leading company focused specifically on the science, development, and commercialization of technologies for peripheral nerve regeneration and repair. Axogen employees are passionate about helping to restore peripheral nerve function and quality of life to patients with physical damage or transection to peripheral nerves by providing innovative, clinically proven, and economically effective repair solutions for surgeons and health care providers. Peripheral nerves provide the pathways for both motor and sensory signals throughout the body. Every day, people suffer traumatic injuries or undergo surgical procedures that impact the function of their peripheral nerves. Physical damage to a peripheral nerve, or the inability to properly reconnect peripheral nerves, can result in the loss of muscle or organ function, the loss of sensory feeling, or the initiation of pain.

Axogen's platform for peripheral nerve repair features a comprehensive portfolio of products, including Avance Nerve Graft, a biologically active off-the-shelf processed human nerve allograft for bridging severed peripheral nerves without the comorbidities associated with a second surgical site; Axoguard Nerve Connector^®, a porcine submucosa extracellular matrix (ECM) coaptation aid for tensionless repair of severed peripheral nerves; Axoguard Nerve Protector^®, a porcine submucosa ECM product used to wrap and protect damaged peripheral nerves and reinforce the nerve reconstruction while preventing soft tissue attachments; and Axoguard Nerve Cap^®, a porcine submucosa ECM product used to protect a peripheral nerve end and separate the nerve from the surrounding environment to reduce the development of symptomatic or painful neuroma. The Axogen portfolio of products is available in the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea, and several other countries.

Contact:
Axogen, Inc.
Ed Joyce, Director, Investor Relations
ejoyce@axogeninc.com