Kennedy Elskamp’s Memory Continues to Save Lives

By Ashley Peterson-DeLuca

When Carter Elskamp turned sixteen, a time when most teens are excited about getting their driver’s license, he was focused on a different milestone: becoming eligible to give blood. He didn’t just want to save lives, but to honor one whose life ended too soon. He wanted to make his big sister, Kennedy, proud.

Carter Elskamp excited to finally donate blood in memory of his sister

“Kennedy was an all-around great kid,” remembers her mom, Lisa Elskamp.

Kennedy Elskamp was a cheerleader, loved country music, especially Morgan Wallen, and had her life after high school graduation planned out. She was going to go to Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, earn her nursing degree, become a travel nurse to pay off her student loans and then become an EMT and firefighter.

Kennedy Elskamp was so dedicated to helping others that she overcame her fear of needles to give blood at her first high school blood drive. Then, she started hounding others to go. She got her mom to give blood for the first time and they would go together every eight weeks, the minimum amount of time between blood donations.  

“She loved that it wasn’t a monetary thing. She could save lives with something as simple as giving blood,” Lisa Elskamp explains. “As soon as she started donating blood, she was loading the app on her phone and showing everyone how easy it was.”

Kennedy Elskamp

On July 1, 2022, everything changed for the Elskamp family. Kennedy Elskamp and her close friend, Chloe Lucas, were passengers in a car that flew over an embankment and rolled. All three in the vehicle were killed instantly.

“We want to do everything possible to make sure this doesn’t happen to another family,” states Lisa Elskamp.

The Elskamp and Lucas families are raising awareness among teens across Iowa about the dangers of distracted driving and speeding.

“Kids don’t understand the dangers; that it isn’t a joke. It was 10 seconds from gas pedal to dying,” says Lisa Elskamp. “We tell them what we, as parents, go through every day without Kennedy.”

The Elskamp family

The Elskamps are continuing Kennedy’s campaign to save lives by hosting regular blood drives. They held their first blood drive in her honor on her birthday in 2023. It was such a success that they started doing them every eight weeks. Lisa Elskamp notes that they get a lot of repeat donors because they immediately sign up for the next one when they are done giving blood. This includes Kennedy’s father, who she hadn’t yet wrangled into becoming a blood donor when she was alive, and now her brother, Carter.  

“Carter is honoring his sister by doing what she can’t anymore,” says Lisa Elskamp.

On her birthday this June, Lisa Elskamp and her friends are going to attend a Morgan Wallan concert in what was to be Kennedy's college town. They will raise their voices in joy and continue to find ways to sing and do good, not without Kennedy, but for her.