Parents of Livermore woman killed by drunk driver find, want to honor her 'bucket list'

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KTVU) - The parents of a 21-year-old nursing student from Livermore killed by a drunk driver honors her memory by saving lives.

Sandra and Dave Chesterman say they didn't want their devastating loss of their beloved daughter Kristina  to be the end of the work she had set out to do.

Photos of her line the walkway up to her family home in Livermore. Kristina's black Toyota SUV is parked in the driveway. 

Her parents want to share her story.

"A difference is going to be made because of who she was and how she lived her life," says Sandra Chesterman, Kristina's mother.  

In September 2013,  Kristina was bicycling back to her apartment after studying in the library when a drunk driver struck her.

She was 18 months from graduating from nursing school at Chico State. 

"This is not going to be the end of Kristina's story," says Sandra. It was not the end. Kristina's organs were donated to five people and now, her parents have written new chapters in her story based on something they found. 

"This is Kristina's bucket list that we found cleaning out her apartment after she was killed," says Sandra.

Some things on the bucket list can never be fulfilled, such as getting married and having kids. But Kristina's parents did find a way to carry out the daughter's wish to  save a life.

She had told her parents she wanted to volunteer with Doctors without Borders in Africa after graduation. 

Now her parents fulfilled that wish.They raised money and built a hospital in Nigeria in her name. 

"It was like she was working her magic from heaven," says Sandra.

It opened in January  and the couple is working with Chico State to send nursing students there each year.

"It's kind of bittersweet.  We like to stay involved with the girls she would have been friends with now today," says Dave, Kristina's father. . 
   
"I am so proud of what has happened in honor of Kristina," says Sandra.  

The Chestermans say Kristina  loved life and taught them to do the same. 

The couple says they felt helpless when they lost their daughter, but by helping others, they've helped themselves.  

"She wanted to be remembered as the "smiley" girl. She smiled all the time," says Sandra.  

And now, her parents say she's smiling down at them for fulfilling a wish on her bucket list.

Kristina started donating blood when she was 16...telling her mother it was the right thing to do.

Her parents are holding a blood drive in her name on Friday.  It will be at the American Red Cross bus at 195 South N Street in downtown Livermore from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  %INLINE%