Grant Shelby's Harvard Dream
Donation protected
Shelby Wood is an eleven year old girl who lives with a rare life-threatening disease called Chronic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction. This a terrible illness that causes
severe abdominal pain due to intestinal failure. She has to wear a tummy-tube for the rest of her life and has a life-long IV that provides the proper nutrients needed for survival, because she can't get all the needed nutrients through food. However, the IV is extremely susceptible to infections. So, the same IV that gives her life can also infect her body with fatal infections and cause liver failure. Her daily routine often involves numerous sleep interruptions such as vomitting and help getting to the restroom due to the weight of her IV. She often wakes with severe pain requiring medication to help her function and sleep. Luckily, she can attend school as a fifth grader on good days where she is a Safety Patrol Captain, a member of Science Olympiad, a member of her school's choir program where she was chosen for All-County Choir and participates in her church leadership program called Leaderettes.
She has been nominated by Mr. Barry Johnson, her fourth grade teacher at Mt. Olive Elementary, as an ambassador to attend 2017 Leadership Summit at HARVARD University. Here, she will join students from all over the world to develop leadership skills, build confidence, and get ready for the opportunities and responsibilities ahead. This is an experience of a life-time for Shelby! Due to her illness and the 24 hour care she must receive, Shelby's mom, Lori, stopped working after Shelby's birth. She needs generous donations from people like you to help cover the cost of the week-long stay July 13th-19th at Harvard University. The cost of the program alone is $3000 dollars, plus transportation. She is smart, sassy, funny and wants to be "normal" just like students her age. Her disease may shorten her life, but she desires to make a difference in her time in this world. Any donation is helpful. Please send Shelby to Harvard and make her dream come true! She plans to pay it forward applying the skills she devlops in her own community in Gardendale, AL.
severe abdominal pain due to intestinal failure. She has to wear a tummy-tube for the rest of her life and has a life-long IV that provides the proper nutrients needed for survival, because she can't get all the needed nutrients through food. However, the IV is extremely susceptible to infections. So, the same IV that gives her life can also infect her body with fatal infections and cause liver failure. Her daily routine often involves numerous sleep interruptions such as vomitting and help getting to the restroom due to the weight of her IV. She often wakes with severe pain requiring medication to help her function and sleep. Luckily, she can attend school as a fifth grader on good days where she is a Safety Patrol Captain, a member of Science Olympiad, a member of her school's choir program where she was chosen for All-County Choir and participates in her church leadership program called Leaderettes.
She has been nominated by Mr. Barry Johnson, her fourth grade teacher at Mt. Olive Elementary, as an ambassador to attend 2017 Leadership Summit at HARVARD University. Here, she will join students from all over the world to develop leadership skills, build confidence, and get ready for the opportunities and responsibilities ahead. This is an experience of a life-time for Shelby! Due to her illness and the 24 hour care she must receive, Shelby's mom, Lori, stopped working after Shelby's birth. She needs generous donations from people like you to help cover the cost of the week-long stay July 13th-19th at Harvard University. The cost of the program alone is $3000 dollars, plus transportation. She is smart, sassy, funny and wants to be "normal" just like students her age. Her disease may shorten her life, but she desires to make a difference in her time in this world. Any donation is helpful. Please send Shelby to Harvard and make her dream come true! She plans to pay it forward applying the skills she devlops in her own community in Gardendale, AL.
Organizer and beneficiary
Emily Herren Franklin
Organizer
Kimberly, AL
Lori Cochran
Beneficiary