As Sandra Chesterman cleaned out her recently killed daughter Kristina’s college apartment last fall, she noticed a makeup bag stuffed with pieces of paper. 
 
 In it, she found one tattered note that had been folded and re-folded many times. It was Kristina Chesterman's bucket list. 
 
 “Kristina had said something to my husband at one time about something that was on her bucket list, but he didn’t realize she had something written down,” Sandra Chesterman said. “It was so like her because she was so organized. She had her whole life planned out. ... It was almost like she knew her life was going to be short. She felt like she had so much to do.” 
 
 Kristina Chesterman, a 21-year-old nursing student at Chico State University, was hit by an allegedly drunk driver in September while she was riding her bike home from studying. 
 
 She was declared brain dead a few days later -- but, despite her premature death, items will continue to get checked off the bucket list. 
 
 Kristina Chesterman's organs went on to save several lives, including that of Susan Vieira, the 64-year-old retired nurse in Campbell, Calif., who received her heart. 
 
 Because organ donors and recipients are anonymous to each other for at least the first six months, Vieira didn’t know who her donor was. 
 
 Then, one day, a friend called her and told her to look at the San Jose Mercury News. There was an article about Kristina Chesterman, her bucket list, and how her mother hoped to meet the woman who received her heart. 
 
 “She read me Kristina’s bucket list,” Vieira said. “It was as if I was getting a CV of my life. There were so many points that I had already accomplished on that bucket list. It was uncanny.” 
 
 For instance, Vieira had already ridden a camel and learned to fly a plane, she said. 
 
 Sandra Chesterman and Vieira connected on social media that day and agreed to meet in person soon after. Hugging Vieira was especially important to Sandra Chesterman because she could feel her daughter’s heartbeat. 
 
 “It just felt so good to be close to Kristina’s heart,” she said, adding that Vieira has offered to let her use a stethoscope next week to listen to it. 
 
 “It was almost as if Kristina hand-picked Susan," Chesterman said. "The heart is who you are, and I think Susan is the perfect person to get this.” 
 
 Now, Vieira wants to honor Kristina Chesterman by ticking off the rest of her bucket list. She’ll need to visit all of the continents and sky dive, to name a few. 
 
 “I’d like to think all the things I continue to accomplish in my life, I’m taking Kristina with me,” she said. “Together, we will finish her bucket list.” ||||| Sandra Chesterman, left, puts a braclet on the wrist of Christine Kirby during a birthday party for her son Jayden Kirby, 1, on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, in Fremont, Calif. Chesterman's daughter Kristina was killed by an alleged drunk driver last September while coming home from nursing school in Chico. Jayden was given months to live before he received part of Kristina Chesterman's liver. Jayden and Christina share the same birth stone and that gem is embeded into the bracelet. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) ( ARIC CRABB ) 
 
 LIVERMORE -- When she was still in high school, Kristina Chesterman wrote out her bucket list. Flying a plane was on it; so was running through a poppy field and breaking up a fight between two boys over her affections. She also wanted to save a life. 
 
 The aspiring nurse's ambitions came to a halt in September, when she was killed by a suspected drunken driver near Chico State, where she attended school. 
 
 Though Chesterman, 21, didn't get to mark much off her list, she has saved more lives than she hoped -- and is profoundly affecting many others. Five Northern Californians have been saved through Kristina's choice to donate her organs. And her grateful friends and family are making the rest of her bucket list their own. 
 
 A photograph of Kristina Chesterman is displayed during a birthday party for Jayden Kirby on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, in Fremont, Calif. Chesterman was killed by an alleged drunk driver last September while coming home from nursing school in Chico. Jayden, 1, was given months to live before he received part of Kristina Chesterman's liver. (Courtesy of the Chesterman Family) ( Chesterman Family ) 
 
 Chesterman's mother, Sandra, of Livermore, said her daughter wanted to help people from an early age. She routinely gave blood and, at age 18, registered as an organ donor, because -- as the young woman explained to her mom -- "it's the right thing to do." 
 
 "I know she would've been so proud," Sandra Chesterman said of her daughter's legacy. "It hasn't been an easy process for us, but at the same time, it's brought us so much comfort." 
 
 Comfort came from the family of Jayden Kirby, of Fremont, who might have died as an infant had he not received a part of Kristina Chesterman's liver. Jayden's mother, Christine, figured out the name of the mystery donor after hearing news reports, and she connected with the Chestermans through Facebook. On Feb. 9, Sandra Chesterman, director of the Livermore Homeless Refuge, and her husband, Dave, met with the Kirbys in Fremont to celebrate Jayden's first birthday. 
 
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 "I wanted her to see the impact Kristina had," Christine Kirby said. "(The transplant) absolutely saved (Jayden's) life." 
 
 Jayden's grandmother Ana Martinez, who wears a pink bracelet honoring Kristina Chesterman, considers the young woman their "guardian angel." 
 
 "I believe Kristina was here to really make an impact, and that goodness will ripple forever," she said. 
 
 Chesterman also saved Sakariah "Zak" Pappachan, a Fremont resident who is overcoming renal failure thanks to her kidney. Pappachan and his wife, Angela, attended the same church as Chesterman's aunt, Patricia Picard. Immediately after Chesterman's death, Picard texted the couple, asking if Zak Pappachan was a match. Within hours, he had his new kidney. 
 
 Now he is enjoying being a dad to his young daughter, RayeAnn, and is advocating for organ donation. 
 
 The Pappachans, who are making a memorial to Chesterman in their backyard, have grown close to the Chesterman family since the transplant. Angela sang at Kristina's funeral, and the two families spent Christmas Eve together at church. 
 
 Sandra Chesterman, left, visits with Christine Kirby, center, her son Jayden Kirby, 1, during a birthday party for Jayden on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, in Fremont, Calif. Chesterman's daughter Kristina was killed by an alleged drunk driver last September while coming home from nursing school in Chico. Jayden was given months to live before he received part of Kristina Chesterman's liver. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) ( ARIC CRABB ) 
 
 "It's given me a different perspective and (taught me) to be grateful that a miracle happened," Zak Pappachan said. "(Kristina's) saved so many people's lives. No matter what I go through, I have to be thankful for Kristina." 
 
 Three others also share Chesterman's organs. A Northern California man, 42, received her kidney and pancreas. The rest of her liver went to a San Francisco man, and her heart still beats inside an unidentified 63-year-old woman from the South Bay, whom Sandra Chesterman hopes to meet someday. 
 
 For the Chestermans, the community created with the Pappachans and Kirbys has helped them deal with a nightmarish year. In February 2013, son Daniel was brutally beaten while visiting Kristina in Chico. After multiple surgeries, he still lacks feeling on the left side of his face. 
 
 Daniel Chesterman's attacker will be sentenced for felony assault in early March. About the same time, a preliminary hearing begins for Riley Dean Hoover, the 19-year-old charged with felony DUI and hit-and-run in Kristina Chesterman's death. 
 
 While the wheels of justice turn, Kristina Chesterman's impact continues to build. Her friends and family have taken on her bucket list, and it is inspiring even more good works. Chico State's Kristina Chesterman Memorial Nursing Scholarship has raised more than $30,000, and -- prompted by Chesterman's desire to join Doctors Without Borders -- fellow nursing students are raising money for a medical clinic to be built in her name in Nigeria. They hope to break ground this summer. 
 
 Bridget Kline, of Livermore, built up the courage to go sky diving over the ocean near San Diego, knowing it would've meant a lot to Chesterman. 
 
 "It was so cool to do one of the crazy activities she never got to do," Kline said. "I was terrified, but I thought about her and it was comforting. ... It was like I had a friend with me." 
 
 Longtime Chesterman family friend and neighbor Chris Leslie brought a photo of Kristina with him on a first-class flight to Japan -- meeting her goal to fly posh -- and will do so again on an upcoming trip to Paris. 
 
 "It's not quite the same, but she'll be in first class with me," Leslie said. "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. ... The rest of us are just a work in progress." 
 
 In powerful ways, though not how she would've imagined, Sandra Chesterman thinks her daughter is still fulfilling her destiny. 
 
 "I have gotten so many signs from Kristina that give me inspiration," she said. "I know she's doing whatever she can to lead us in the right direction." 
 
 Contact Jeremy Thomas at 925-847-2184. Follow him at Twitter.com/jet_bang.
– 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."