Placer County family will celebrate life of organ donor who passed away in March

Editor's note: This story was produced by Sacramento News & Review and is being co-published here by permission. Cheyenne Loomer's family wasn't there to see all the lives she saved on the day her body was slowly wheeled through the hall of a hospital. Doctors and nurses stood at attention as they watched. The staff at UCI Medical Center in Orange County lined up to show respect and appreciation for Loomer choosing to be an organ donor. At some point during her brief 25 years on the earth, Loomer, whose nickname was "Doodles," decided to fill out the necessary paperwork for a selfless act should anything happen to her. And something had happened to her. More specifically, something had been done to her. Now, on March 26, the hospital's surgeons were sure they were about to save five-to-seven lives because of Loomer's simple commitment to others. The young woman was steered toward an operatory. Those looking on could see that, despite the catastrophic injury that left her brain dead, Loomer still looked like her beautiful self. She just appeared to be sleeping through a final mission to help patients in need. The girl everyone called "Doodles" grew up in Placer County and graduated from Del Oro High School in 2016. She was from a big family. She enjoyed spending time with her eight siblings. "She was spunky, funny – loved to go to birthday parties and family doings," recalls Loomer's grandmother, Terry Wicks. "She went to almost every gathering she could. She was really tight with her family. She was just a beautiful, happy-go-lucky girl; and very outgoing. It made you happy to be around her." After graduating Del Oro, Loomer earned numerous associate degrees at Sierra College in Rocklin before heading south for Long Beach State University. She ultimately graduated in 2022 with a degree in Finance. She was still making frequent trips back to Placer County to see her parents, Steve Loomer and Kristi Paulson, sometimes conquering the entire highway on her motorcycle. She would also visit her brothers and sisters in the cities they lived in, too. However, the family knew Doodles was also pretty enthralled by her new life along the coast. "She was a beach girl," Wicks reflects. "She just loved it down there, so she stayed. She was working three jobs and driving a little Lexus around." Loomer's sister and brother-in-law, Julia and Jasen Lembach, made similar observations on a Go Fund Me page they created to help with funeral expenses. "She absolutely loved the beach, and more often than not that's where you would find her at the end of the day, watching the sun go down," they wrote on the page. "Doodles' favorite color was blue, which also meant she loved blue candy and drinks. It didn't matter what it tasted like because it was blue. She loved to attend festivals with her friends, who became her family when she was away." On the morning of March 17, Loomer called her parents to catch up. "She said, 'Dad, I am having so much fun,' " Wicks notes of the conversation. "She told him, 'I'm going with a bunch of friends to a beach party.' I know her that father was so happy to talk to her that morning." Family members say sheriff's deputies contacted Steve and Kristi the next day to tell them something happened to their daughter. "My son was told that she'd been shot, and that they immediately needed to get to the hospital as fast as they could," Wicks remembers. "When they went down there, there was some hope … but, actually, the truth was she was really brain dead and they wanted to discuss the possibility of donating organs, since she had signed a donor card." According to the Anaheim Police Department, earlier that evening, at 6:20 p.m., officers and firefighters rushed to the 1100 block of South Chantilly Street due to a 911 call. "Upon arrival, APD officers located one female victim who had been shot," Sgt. Jonathan McClintock confirmed via email. "The woman, 25-year-old Cheyenne Loomer, was transported to a local hospital by Anaheim Fire & Rescue personnel in critical condition. Responding officers detained a suspect, 24-year-old Anaheim resident Robert Kenneth Connors, at the scene. Connors was arrested at the scene for attempted murder and was booked into the Anaheim PD Detention Facility. Connors was transferred to Orange County Jail and was later released after posting bail." The sergeant added, "Loomer remained in grave condition until she succumbed to her injuries … The incident remains under investigation and is being handled by Anaheim PD's Homicide Detail." For Loomer's family, their current understanding is that she met Connors "online" roughly five weeks before. Anaheim Police have not commented on those details yet. Wicks says Loomer's family is frustrated and worried that an Orange County judge allowed Connors to post bail, given the circumstances. "I'm afraid he might run and try to disappear," Wicks says. "We were pretty shocked." Friends of Loomer are invited to attend her public celebration of life on Saturday, April 27, at 8025 Rock Springs Road.