Woman Vows to Live Out Heart Donor's Bucket List

Susan Vieira to honor Kristina Chesterman
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2014 11:00 AM CDT
Woman Vows to Live Out Heart Donor's Bucket List
Kristina Chesterman   (Facebook)

Kristina Chesterman, 21, was studying to be a nurse when she was killed by a suspected drunk driver last year—but she managed to save lives anyway. A registered organ donor, Chesterman gave five people, including a baby, new life, and now the woman who received her heart wants to do something in return. Susan Vieira, 64, has vowed to check off everything on Chesterman's bucket list—written down on a piece of paper her mom only recently found. (One of the items? "Save someone's life." Another? "Be in four places at once.") Vieira had completed several of the tasks already, including learning to fly a plane and riding a camel, ABC News reports. And now, "together, we will finish her bucket list," Vieira says.

Other points on the list include running through a poppy field and riding in a hot-air balloon, the San Jose Mercury News reported earlier this year. "I'd like to think all the things I continue to accomplish in my life, I’m taking Kristina with me," Vieira continues; Chesterman's mom adds that she "felt an instant connection" to the woman she just met. Chesterman's friends are also helping to complete the bucket list, including one who took Chesterman's picture along for a first-class flight and another who went skydiving in her honor. "You wonder why someone like that is taken so young, but I believe Kristina was one of those very rare people who was so complete as a person already," says one friend. "The rest of us are just a work in progress." (More uplifting news stories.)

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