Dear Family, Friends, Community, and our Interconnected Human Family,

I’m writing with my deepest prayer and an urgent request for compassion, love, and support. My brother, Shane Merkley, is currently in the Cardiovascular ICU in Eugene, Oregon. He is unconscious and on life support due to heart failure from a lifelong battle with addiction. It is heartbreaking and terrifying to witness.

Shane is the father of three children and a grandfather to one grandchild. His biological father abandoned him, our brother Jesse, and our mother when Shane was just a small child—never to return, never offering a single dime of child support. Our mother was left to raise two young boys at this time alone, struggling to survive.

Shane has spent much of his adult life on and off the streets and in and out of jail—not because he is a bad person, but because our family never had the resources to get him the help he desperately needed. Addiction has been a generational wound in our family, rooted in unprocessed trauma. Without proper support, the pain became too great for Shane to face, and substances took hold.

I have been on a healing path for over a decade—studying, researching, and experiencing deep healing work—always with Shane as my greatest inspiration. My mission has been to help people at the root of their suffering, on the deepest spiritual level. My dream was to take Shane to the Amazon for healing, but we never made it there. Now, this is our last fighting chance to help him.

Yesterday, I held Shane’s hand in the ICU and told him, “We’re going to get through this. You’re not alone. I love you.” The doctors have told us that a 6-month rehabilitation program is his only hope for survival. We also recently learned that Shane’s biological father died seven years ago from a drug overdose and heart failure. God, Great Spirit—please help us change this story.

We have lost the sense of village in our society. It is almost impossible for one family, for one mother, to hold all this hardship alone. We must relearn how to support each other—because we are all ONE. The suffering of one is the suffering of all.

I am asking for your help. Any donation, even $10, is an offering of energy that will ripple out far beyond this moment. I promise that through sacred reciprocity, I will continue to support others in their healing as I always have, and I will always pay it forward in our collective village.

All donations will go towards getting Shane into a rehabilitation center as soon as possible which costs $30,000/month and they unfortunately do not accept Medicaid according to the social worker we're working with and researching.

If you cannot give, please help by sharing this campaign. If you know of organizations that assist with health insurance navigation, rehab access, or related resources, please email me.

Let’s be the people who see and support those who are suffering, instead of turning away. My heart is open. Please hear my prayer.

With love and gratitude,

Taylor and our whole family