Help Blake the Warrior Conquer His Bucket List!

Blake Wallace-Alberto Escalera

5/30/2007-10/08/2024

Heaven gained the strongest angel it's ever seen this morning. Blake the Warrior is finally Home with his Papa and family in heaven and finally sickness free. He fought countless battles in life, had 56 surgeries total in which he stayed joking, positive and so incredibly hilarious. His joy, wildly inappropriate jokes, strength, resilience, inspirational spirit, memories and legacy will be honored to my last days. I had the ultimate privilege of being your "Mother". Your bubba/sir/rainbow will be okay. Your bruh/Elijah/fuckhat will be strong and take care of your Bruh circle and YBCW gang. Bros for life! Thank you for the middle fingers in the sky today. "Fuck you too baby" (Blake's version of I love you the last few months) I will miss you every minute of the rest of my life but please know baby boy, momma's got you here on Earth and everywhere your soul goes. I've got you my love and be pain free with your angels in heaven. Please keep giving me signs. I will treasure them and honor you always through my shattered heart

We will be having a Celebration of Life/Graduation at ACH, Blake's place of strength. We will update when we have a date and ways you can help are donating to his go fund me to give my warrior a celebration he deserves and hopefully finish the bucket list he couldn't complete by spreading ashes at each one to leave a bit of a boy who changed the world. We will be creating a needs list in the next few days for those who need to feel helpful in grief. Please feel no obligation if you're unable as I understand each person grieves in their own way

https://gofund.me/9236a722

Here is our gofund me link or you can directly donate through venmo or cashapp if you're able to help contribute. Thank you everyone for the outpouring of love

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56 Surgeries.

17 years old.

More to come.

A remarkable story of bravery, love, determination: and the power of a mother’s love.

Blake Escalera is a walking miracle - and his mom Shaleesha and siblings, big sister Ava and little brother Elijah, have been by his side through every moment. Born at 24 weeks of age with a grade 4 brain bleed, Blake continues to live with shunt-dependant hydrocephalus, “a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles (cavities) deep within the brain” (National Institute of Health).

Living with this condition has proven to be the battle of a lifetime for the Escalera family. Throughout Blake’s 17 years of life, he has endured 56 surgeries, 36 of which have been shunt revisions. After an incredibly tough first 6 months of 2024, Blake has continued to lose vision in both of his eyes and is receiving primary nourishment through a feeding tube and will receive a permanent form in August. Early this spring, Blake began having multiple types of seizures, resulting in several emergency trips to the hospital and flights to Seattle Children’s, needing time in the Intensive Care Unit.

Blake spent his first year of life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Today, he is a frequent patient at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle. The staff there knows Blake’s condition- and body - well, and to speak with his mother is like speaking with a neurologist herself. A young mother of a one year old when her precious son was born, Shaleesha has become the advocate and support that every child with medical needs deserves. Selfless to the core, Shaleesha has fought to ensure Blake - and her other children - have the best shot at life possible. But the journey has not been easy.

The brilliant surgeons at Seattle Children’s have shared with the family that each new surgery presents it’s own unique challenges and risks, and the reality is that they just aren’t sure how many more times surgery will be a viable solution. Blake’s body is getting more and more resistant to the anesthesia, and the magnitude and occurrence of damage to his brain has been steadily increasing. This occurrence has led to the potential for Blake to enter status epilepticus - a potentially fatal neurological emergency where a patient has multiple seizures in a row requiring immediate treatment. He has already entered this status twice this year and thanks to his incredible ICU team, pulled through miraculously. With this perilous journey becoming even harder, Blake’s mom and family have sat down with Blake and made Blake’s “Bucket” List - adventures and experiences Blake has always wanted to have that he feels would make life more joyous.

The list is beautifully simple: a trip to Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, The Oregon Coast, ride in as many cool cars with nice stereo systems as he can, reunite with his favorite firefighter, find a wheelchair that takes him everywhere he would like to go (one for all terrains), go to every WA farmers market to try new fruits, help kids at Seattle children's with low vision learn how to adapt to being in the hospital and his favorite request is to visit every rock/crystal shop in Washington state (Blake loves to learn about rocks and crystals. Getting to feel them with his hands and holding them up close to his eyes to study their intricacies brings him such joy).

As summer is underway and family vacations abound, Blake’s list presents as a series of fun road trips - day and weekend adventures. For this incredible family, however, it is not so simple: logistically or financially - and time is not necessarily on their side. Logistically, Blake tires easily. He has started utilizing a wheelchair for outings. Financially - this single mom is strapped. Already living on an incredibly impossible income, each trip to Seattle Children’s and back costs her a minimum of $200 out of pocket in gas and expenses. This year alone, she has made 5 trips to Seattle for extended hospital stays and surgeries, totalling 30 days (including two emergency Life Flight, one resulting in 8 days in ICU with epilepticus and a diagnosis of Intractable epilepsy). This does not include the constant trips to local healthcare facilities and Zoom appointments with Seattle Children’s for routine appointments monitoring.

Prayers are welcomed and asked to spread and share. God has given this family miracles in Blake and now we ask for prayers of peace and joy and a showering of God's love.

How else can you help? You can donate to “Blake The Warrior’s Bucket List” fund through this GoFundMe account or at any Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU) branch. The proceeds will go towards creating an emergency account for the family's needs during Blake's medical appointments & hospital stays, as well as for creating memories of a lifetime as a family!

You can also brighten this young man’s day by sending encouragement: Blake loves to receive cards in large print, brightly colored pictures and loves to play card games. Mail to brighten this strong warrior's day is welcome. Also helpful are gift cards for the family, especially ones for meals on the road or while at the hospital (Uber Eats). Amazon, Walmart, and gas cards are also some that would be helpful. Mail can be sent to:

Blake Escalera

General Delivery

Coulee City, WA 99115

Thank you in advance for your support and being part of helping this Warrior and his family in creating lifelong memories!