Help Shauna Recover From Cancer

For those that don't know, my sister Shauna has been diagnosed with Stage 2 Thyroid Cancer, which has spread to her lymph nodes. She is to sick to work. She and her two daughters are in extreme financial distress and in need of immediate help. Please consider making a donation to help her and her daughters now.

Shauna had worked for 15 years to get her life back on track after a horrendous sexual assault that occurred in 2000. The despair and hopelessness of this event drove her down a dark road of physical abuse, addiction and even homelessness.

Just before the birth of her second daughter, Shauna entered into an intensive treatment program designed for mothers with addiction and history of abuse. Shauna underwent a complete transformation and became a new person after graduating from this intensive 18-month program. She was given renewed hope and totally blossomed into the woman and mother that God intended her to be.

The story of Shauna's fight and victory over sexual assault, physical abuse, addiction and homelessness is an inspiration to many. She has appeared on local TV news and been interviewed on the radio because of her success.

See Shauna receiving a renovated home for her and her two girls (Fox 4 News KC)

Now in a terrible twist of circumstance, Shauna has been diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, which has spread to her lymph nodes. The cancer has ravaged her body to the point where she can barely function. Now on chemotherapy, she is no longer able to work and is on unpaid medical leave from her job. But her medical prognosis is still very hopeful. She is determined to recover from this tradgedy as she has with so many before it.

Please consider a donation to help Shauna and her two daughters. Even a small donation will help. Of all Shauna has had to overcome, this is her greatest hour of need. Shauna's family has sacrificed greatly to help her, but our financial means are limited.

URGENT NEED: Shauna's electricity, gas and water are about to be shut off! She has already lost her phone service, her car was reposessed last week, and all other utilities have since been disconnected.

We trust that God will provide; He returns beauty for ashes, joy for mourning and praise for despair. Shauna has claimed victory over addiction, homelessness, sexual assault, physical abuse, poverty, and the challenges of single motherhood. She has been sober for almost six years. She will prevail over cancer as well. But she needs your help for her immediate needs. Make a donation now. 

Here is Shauna's story in her own words:

I first moved to Kansas City in the year 2000 to escape a horrible and violent rape. That really began a desperate time trying to cover up tragedy that lasted years. I was 25 when I had my first child.

Shauna with her two daughters before she became sick


I had just left a very abusive relationship with her father who several times tried to kill me. When my daughter was four I was going to school and working to try to make a better life but secretly I felt this emptiness in me. Sometimes I tried to cover it up by drinking but then I met someone who gave me a drug that not only hide my pain but gave me the energy to be supermom superstudent superhuman or so I thought. But within a few months I started to lose everything.

I lost my heart, which was custody of my first daughter, and everything else followed. This began a 10 year battle with homelessness, abuse, loss, despair and hopelessness. Ten years later, I arrived at a homeless shelter for women and their children. I was broken , but desperate for change. I was pregnant again and had made up my mind that I would not put this child through what my daughter had to go through. I was so tired of getting high. I was tired of seeing the very worst of humanity and I was tired of being the worst.

I wanted life. I wanted beauty. And by the grace of God I was lead to Sheffield House. I spent 18 months living there. I went through a very intensive drug treatment program called Rediscover and graduated in a little over a year. I went through family court and successfully completed that program and we'll as the TIES program. I thrived at Sheffield House. They eventually made me a resident monitor, which meant I watched over the other woman while staff was gone.

Shauna received a job at Hampton Inn in 2015. In three years she was promoted several times and became a manager prior to her medical leave.


I found my job at Hampton Inn in June of 2015 and never looked back. I fell in love with the hotel business and was a part of the most amazing staff I had ever worked with! I was given employee of the month a few months after I started and with in a year was promoted from room inspector to housekeeping supervisor!

Listen to Shauna's radio interview about her recovery, life and new found success at her job. (KCUR Radio)

In December of 2015 after 18 month at Sheffield I was given a permanent house through their housing program! The ribbon cutting ceremony was wonderful and I cried when I walked into my new home. It was a place for me and my daughter's to be safe in a beautiful home. It was a dream come true!! Fox 4 news filmed the whole thing and aired it that night at 10.

My gratitude for everything was huge. In order to get to work every morning on time I had to wake up at 4am, get my then one year old up, fed, and bundled up for our adventures on the Metro. Two busses later I would arrive at work 10 minutes before my shift and then repeat the whole thing after work. The the best part of my whole day seeing baby light up when I pick her up. Things went on this way for another year when I finally noticed I was losing quite a bit of weight

The Hampton inspired loyalty and hard work - from the owners to the General manager (who by the way is one of the most kind individuals I have ever met), to the sales department, to the maintenance team, to the director of Housekeeping, my immediate boss, to my housekeepers and housemen, to the beautiful ladies in laundry and at the front desk; we were truly a work family and I love them all.

I was living the life I had dreamed! But the bus became harder and harder. The more weight I lost, the more symptoms I had, the harder everything started becoming. Pretty soon I started getting concerned questions from co-workers and friends.

Shauna with her two daughters, losing weight before being diagnosed with cancer.


I was drug tested to see if I had relapsed. But I hadn't and the results came back negative. I started waking up at 2 and 3 in the morning in blind panics and next I my hands started trembling so bad sometimes that I couldn't hold a drink or dial my phone.

I would wake up exhausted and dizzy and so hungry that finally one day I made an appointment for a physical. I went from almost 150 pounds at 5 feet 7 inches to at my lowest recently to 95 pounds.

My blood work came back and I was told that I had hyperthyroidism. I was put on a heart machine to see how irregular my heartbeat was. The doctor put me on meds and referred me to an endocrinologist who ordered an ultrasound.

They found two tumors on my right lobe. Both of them were under a centimeter but not by much.  The doctor decided to hold off on a biopsy until she had signs they were growing. I was ok for a little while and very used to pushing myself hard.

September of 2017 was a very tough month. My daughter who since has been diagnosed with severe emotional disorders tried to take her own life and was hospitalized. This started me on a desperate journey to seek understanding and treatment for her.

I was offered lots of overtime at work, which I gratefully accepted at least 6 days a week; all the while feeling worse and worse physically. I had dropped to 95 pounds by this time and made appointments with a new specialist and primary care physician. I was so weak I couldn't stand up for long periods. The tremors and dizzy spells were back, along with a new pain that started at the base of my neck with a stiffness that would lead to a horrible headaches.

The specialist ordered a biopsy. I was diagnosed with stage 2 Papillary Thyroid cancer.  My world has since stopped. I had worked so hard to overcome my addictions and to create a stable, loving home for my two daughters, and I did it all by myself. But the years I spent working and putting my all into everything unraveled in just a few short months.

Shauna today has lost over 50 pounds, is fighting cancer, receiving chemotherapy and radiation and can no longer support her family. She needs financial help immediately.


I am now on extended medical leave from work. I'm extremely weak, undergoing both Chemotherapy and Radiation.  Next month would be my 3-year anniversary at my job. On the 10th of this month both my electric and my gas were due to be disconnected. My water is scheduled to be shut off on the 15th and my phone has since been turned off. If it weren't for my dear amazing friends, my sweet father and step mother, and the kindness of Sheffield we wouldn't even have what we do.

My medical bills are starting to pile up. I'm being forced to choose between my cancer treatment, feeding my kids and keeping my power and water on. I have no idea how long I will be unable to work or how long even the most kind boss can stay patient.

I am devastated that my dream of providing for my kids has been taken from me.

Please consider a donation to help Shauna and her two children today. Thank you and God Bless You.