Friends, family and professors gathered last night in Claudia Cohen Hall to remember Nursing junior Lindsey Goldhagen, who passed away from complications associated with a liver transplant on Aug. 30.
Goldhagen, who struggled with liver cancer during her time at Penn, was remembered for her inexhaustible energy, passion for life and the example she set for others.
“She just lived her life with no inhibitions,” said College junior Liore Klein, who said she got to know Goldhagen especially well this past summer.
Klein told of a time she and Goldhagen were in a taxi, and Goldhagen was “venting” about something. After a while, Klein said, the cab driver turned to Goldhagen and said, “You should have your own T.V. show.”
“It would be the best T.V. show ever,” Klein added.
While at Penn, Goldhagen was involved in various organizations on campus, including Student Nurses at Penn, Relay for Life — an annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society — and Penn’s bone marrow drive.
Wharton junior Andrew Brodsky described the time when he “mentioned” the bone marrow drive to Goldhagen.
“You don’t ever ‘mention something in passing to Lindsey,” Brodsky said. With Goldhagen’s energetic support, he said, almost 450 people registered to take part in the drive.
“Each one of those is a potential life saved,” added Brodsky, who said in an interview last year that he received a life-saving bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia at age 16.
College junior Chrissy Anderson, Goldhagen’s sister in the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, described Goldhagen’s intense loyalty to all her friends.
Anderson recounted a time when she was talking on the phone with Goldhagen, lamenting “boy troubles” for some time. Goldhagen listened patiently, Anderson said, before revealing that she had just gone back into the hospital.
“She replied that it wasn’t a big deal. She was always in the hospital, but she wished she could get out to give the boy I was having issues with a piece of her mind,” Anderson wrote in an e-mail.
Goldhagen’s passion also extended into the academic arena, said Associate Dean of the Nursing School Kathleen McCauley, who called Goldhagen “one of the most special students we’ve ever had.”
McCauley pointed to the competitive nursing internship Goldhagen held with Independence Blue Cross, as well as the award for best poster presentation she won at an Eastern Nursing Research Society Conference.
McCauley and Christina Clark, Nursing assistant dean for academic and student affairs, also revealed that the Nursing School voted Sept. 14 to honor Goldhagen with a degree.
“She truly was a nurse already,” said Clark.
Goldhagen’s mother, Ina, thanked everyone at Penn for making “the best two years of my Lindsey’s life.”
Her father, Jerry, said he “couldn’t be more proud” of Goldhagen.
In addition to various speeches, the service also featured performances by a cappella groups Penn Six and the Shabbatones.
“The memorial service really did her justice,” said Engineering sophomore Mike Siegel.
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