Michaela Svetlana Waldrop, 29, of Malden, died in a motorcycle crash in Gorham, New Hampshire, on July 2, according to police. Now, her mother, Kris Waldrop, is working to establish the Michaela Waldrop Foundation, which will support underserved individuals and families in her daughter's honor.
Friends and loved ones have launched a GoFundMe to help Kris Waldrop establish the foundation and fund its mission.
"In a single moment, Kris lost the center of her world. No words can truly express the heartbreak she feels," according to Shaunna Lai, a fellow nurse who works alongside Kris Waldrop at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. "... Although nothing can ever fill the unimaginable void left by Michaela’s passing, Kris wants her daughter’s light to continue shining."
Lai launched the campaign earlier this week and has already raised more than $5,000 from more than 40 donors. She wrote that Kris Waldrop and her daughter shared an unbreakable bond that continues even after Michaela's death.
"They weren’t just mother and daughter. They were best friends," she wrote. "Kris was immensely proud of the compassionate, intelligent, and remarkable young woman Michaela had become."
Michaela Waldrop recently earned her master's degree in social work from Boston College, according to the campaign.
"She devoted her life to helping underserved individuals and families, believing that every person deserved compassion," Lai wrote. "Helping others wasn’t simply her career — it was who she was."
Police said Michaela Waldrop was a passenger on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that crashed on Route 16 in Gorham at about 10:30 p.m. Authorities are investigating the cause of the single-vehicle wreck.
Lai wrote that Kris Waldrop plans to make it her life's work to ensure Michaela's compassion continues.
"While we cannot take away Kris’s pain," she wrote, "we can stand beside her during this unimaginable time and help ensure Michaela’s legacy lives on."
Click here for more information on the GoFundMe
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