Woman killed in Hwy 26 car crash changing lives as an organ donor

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Monday morning, a woman was driving into work following a stressful morning. Family members say she was momentarily distracted and wound up rolling her car on Highway 26. Unfortunately, it was an accident she didn’t walk away from.

Natashia Luce was the victim and was just over 30 years old. She had just been proposed to a couple weeks ago, and her family says she wasn’t typically a reckless driver. They don’t want her to be remembered as such.

Instead, they’d like her to be remembered as a caregiver and as a humble, free spirit. She was also a loving mother of two young twin boys with her fiancé, Jimmy Rosacker Jr.

Rosacker said he’s going to do the best he can to be the father his late fiancée would expect.

“It’s going to be a tough order,” he said, “but I’m going to be sure to keep that promise.”

Rosacker described his partner of five years as a wonderful person, and a woman he proposed to no more than two weeks ago.

“She was not someone who ever thought she was going to fall in love and have kids,” he explained. “It’s just hard not having her here.”

The family said whether she was ready or not, she wound up with the twins. Her mother, Linda Wilkinson, said she stepped up to the challenge and loved them both with all her heart.

“Liam has her sensitivity, and Wyatt is goofy and fun just like her,” she said about the twin 3-year-olds.

The family admits Natashia was humble, and never wanted to be the center of attention.

“If she knew we were talking about her right now,” Kevin Wilkinson, Natashia’s stepfather, said, “she would be upset.”

Although they had the opportunity to express their love, it came with tragedy. The family said the news of the accident off Highway 26 was news no one was ready for. Showing up to the hospital, they were told to expect the worst.

That was something Natashia’s little brother Jacob Luce said nothing can prepare you for.

“Not even a little. I don’t think there was anybody who could push my buttons more,” Jacob laughed. “There’s never going to be anybody like her and we’re all going to miss her a lot.”

Rosacker said countless people have showed up to support his fiancée at her bedside, to express how much they love her and how greatly she will be missed.

“Just waking up next to her,” Rosacker reminisced. “Someone to hold me and someone to hold when life gets tough.”

SEE ALSO: Car flips on top of car in 3-vehicle crash in NE Portland

“I can’t describe it,” Natashia’s mother said. “It’s like your worst nightmare come true. It’s hell. That’s all you can say.”

Natashia’s family said she has been at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital since Monday and in critical condition. Unfortunately, doctor’s shared with the family that she has not been showing any brain activity. Hospital staff have kept her in stable condition to see what organs she may be able to viably donate.

“She’s going to be affecting three people’s lives,” Rosacker said. “Knowing that she’s actually going to change lives would mean a lot to her. It means a lot to me, and it will mean a lot to her boys.”

Some day when the time’s right, Rosacker said he’ll share a bit more about the boy’s beautiful mother, the one they didn’t get the opportunity to grow up with.

“Their mom loved them, and she wanted the best for them,” he said. “There wasn’t a day that went by that they weren’t the most important thing to her.”

“I love you, mommy,” Liam said.

Rosacker is left to fend for his boys alone, and a cousin of theirs set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral and hospital expenses.