HONORING NICHOLE DENISE HOGAN—FROM LEFT, TINA CZAIKOWSKI, ACCOUNT MANAGER WITH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS; NIC HOGAN, NICHOLE’S FATHER; TOYA GLAZE, NICHOLE’S AUNT; AND NICOLE GLAZE, NICHOLE’S GRANDMOTHER. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)

One after one, people lined up at the Carnegie One Braddock Library to give blood, because as North Braddock Borough Council President Lisa Franklin-Robinson has said, “blood means life.”

The people were giving blood on Thursday, June 18, 2026, to honor the life of Nichole Denise Hogan, who passed away one week after her family learned she had leukemia. Hogan died on Jan. 7, 2022. She was just 13.

The blood drive was officially called the “Fifth Annual Nichole Denise Hogan Blood Drive.”

“Nichole was a child of the community. Her heart was as big as gold. She loved everything and everybody. Everybody in this community loved her for who she was because she was just a sweet, wonderful person,” said Hogan’s grandmother, Nicole Glaze, at the event.

According to the Leukemia Research Foundation, leukemia is a type of cancer found in a person’s blood and bone marrow and is caused by the rapid production of abnormal white blood cells. These abnormal white blood cells are unable to fight infection and impair the ability of the bone marrow to produce red blood cells and platelets.

Leukemia can be either acute or chronic. Chronic leukemia progresses more slowly than acute leukemia, which requires immediate treatment.

According to the American Cancer Society, most leukemia cases involving children are acute. Overall, when a child is diagnosed with cancer, 33 percent of the time, it’s leukemia.

Selena Singletary, a member of the National Council of Negro Women, was one of the people who gave blood at the event. She said she met Hogan one time and thought, “she was the sweetest little girl. She was very polite, smile that lit up the room.”

If Hogan were alive today, her father, Nic Hogan, said she would have graduated from high school this year. A posthumous high school diploma for Nichole Hogan was presented to her family, the diploma shown on a table at the blood drive along with a number of Nichole Hogan’s photos.

Nic Hogan said his daughter’s leukemia was very aggressive. Nichole Hogan was involved in a serious car accident in South Carolina about six months prior to her leukemia diagnosis, but there’s no confirmed evidence to suggest that the accident or the corresponding medical care had anything to do with the future cancer diagnosis.

The blood drive in Nichole Hogan’s honor is also meant to bring awareness to the blood shortage across the nation.

“Every pint can save a life, as much as the (blood) shortage is,” Nic Hogan said.

Nic Hogan also said that in his daughter’s honor, there were two scholarship recipients this year from Propel Schools to help them continue their education into college.

“She was special,” Nic Hogan said of his daughter, Nichole. “She was a beautiful soul, she was a leader among her peers.” Glaze, Nichole Hogan’s grandmother, added: “She would do anything for anybody, and we’re just proud of her. With this blood drive, we need for her legacy to live on.”

NICHOLE DENISE HOGAN