MILWAUKEE — Turning pain into something positive to help others. That is what family and friends of Johanna Pascoe are doing.
Pascoe, 20, was on her way to her student-nursing job at Aurora St. Luke’s, when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver, on the morning of Dec. 12.
Ernesto Rodolfo Regalado Rodriguez, 21, faces more than 30 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty to three felonies - homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, and operating a vehicle without a license causing death.
“Living without Johanna has made our world feel very dark and messed up,” said Elisha Pascoe, Johanna’s oldest sister. “You can really start to think negatively, feeling that loss. Being at home and she’s not there, is shocking and painful.”
Just days before Johanna died, they had celebrated her graduation from Gateway Technical College’s nursing program.
“We’re trying to do things to honor her memory and do something to help people,” Elisha said. “Because she really did love helping people.”
To be that light and beacon of hope that she always was, they helped organize a mobile blood drive in front of Aurora St. Luke’s, where Johanna loved working.
All day people lined up to donate blood in Johanna’s honor. Including nurses who knew her, strangers moved by her story, and Elisha, who just wanted to feel a little closer to her baby sister.
“Just being in there and donating blood with others, made me emotional,” Elisha said. “It made me full of gratitude, but also full of sadness because I miss her.”
As a nursing student, Johanna knew the need and donated blood regularly. Especially during the pandemic when donation drives stopped, and the blood supply was critically low.
“Every day she came to work, she wanted to do a good job, and donating blood on top of that was a big part of her,” said Dr. Ajay Sahajpal, the Director of Abdominal Transplant for Advocate Aurora Health. “It’s fitting that we’re able to have this tribute to her and it really shows how giving she was in all aspects of her life.”
Though her life was cut tragically short, Johanna’s legacy of love, kindness and care lives on.
Johanna’s family has been getting messages from people, businesses and schools wanting to step up and do good in Johanna’s honor.
The Culver’s in Burlington, where Johanna was once a manager, will be holding fundraising events in her memory.
The next blood donation drive in Johanna’s honor will be at Gateway Technical College’s Racine campus on March 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Everyone is welcome.
