Rose Chelsea Lubang could not help but take care of others.
When her friends told her of their plan to take her to Las Vegas for Rose’s 21st birthday, she told them that she would be the group’s designated driver.
The Cal State Long Beach freshman died Wednesday night after being rushed to the hospital with severe chest pains.
Lubang came to CSULB with dreams of becoming a nurse, a decision that her friends said was a natural extension of her desire to care for others.
“When you would ask her something she would say, ‘Yes.’ She would never say, ‘No,’” Monica Haro, a CSULB freshman and Rose’s friend since high school, said. “Even if she was struggling – in high school she struggled to walk [because of leg swelling], and if someone wanted her to go to a class she would say, ‘Yes, I’ll go with you.’”
This was the response of someone who in elementary school answered “nurse” on a name tag that asked “When I grow up I want to be…”
Rose was the person that all her friends turned to for advice, calming nerves with a simple “Oh, you got this.”
“She was a really good listener,” CSULB freshman Kathleen Porras said. “She never wanted anyone to worry about her.”
Rose’s friends recalled the ease with which she made new friends, seemingly knowing “everything about everyone,” said Kyla Fernando, a freshman business major and friend since middle school.
Michelica Balajadia, a first-year pre-nursing student, attributed this connection with others to Rose’s outgoing and inviting personality.
“She’s a real, genuine person,” Balajadia said. “She’s also really friendly, she’s easy to talk to, she’s not intimidating at all. You can approach her on the sidewalk if you see her.”
Rose, a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and a lover of Sam Smith’s “Money on My Mind,” would have become an excellent nurse. All you need to do is ask the people that she already cared for.
“I pretty much miss everything,” Fernando said. “We just had classes together; I’m going to miss seeing her there and especially [her] being two blocks away, now I won’t be able to see her, and I miss that too.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Rose to aid in funeral expenses. To donate, go to https://www.gofundme.com/2mn6qqbs.