Shannon's Courage

Hi, my name is Eileen Olsen, and my cousin Shannon Claflin discovered a lump in her breast the size of a golf ball, the summer of 2022. Shannon was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Breast Cancer. Thankfully, it was caught early and has not metastasized anywhere else in her body.

Shannon is a single mom with 4 children and works in social work teaching disabled people how to live independently and assists them with transport for appointments. She supports her son who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Her children’s father passed away a year and a half ago from early on-set Alzheimer’s disease and has had to take on additional financial responsibilities.

Shannon went through six rounds of chemotherapy and became extremely ill with her last round of treatment and developed kidney stones and severe sepsis and was in the hospital for a week. Her platelet count dropped to 2,000 (normal is over 200,000) and she required several blood and platelet transfusions to help her body heal from the harsh treatments of chemotherapy treatments. While Shannon was in the hospital her furnace broke and her pipes froze. Her dad was able to help coordinate the repairs while she was in the hospital. This has been a big financial stress for Shannon since her furnace is very old and has broken down six times this winter and needs a lot of repairs or requires replacement.

Shannon has had to cut down her work hours for her treatments and side effects of chemotherapy. To make ends meet she relies on food shelves to support the needs for her family.

On January 26, 2023, Shannon had surgery for a double mastectomy. The doctors were able to remove all the cancer and thankfully the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. She will also require three additional reconstructive surgeries. For each reconstructive surgery she will miss 4 – 6 weeks of work. Shannon has a lot of damage from the chemotherapy treatments to her teeth and will also require reconstructive work, in the future. I am asking for assistance to help cover expenses for her car, mortgage, lost salary & medical bills.

Shannon, also, lost her mom, in 2016, to breast cancer. Her mom’s strength throughout her cancer battle inspires her to live each day to the fullest and embrace the simple things in life.

Shannon is loving, kind-hearted and selfless. I know many of us love Shannon, her commitment to her family, her enjoyment of life and easy-going personality. Let’s show her some love during this tough time. A donation of any amount is appreciated!

Thank you to everyone on her medical team for their guidance on her road to recovery and her family & friends for their support when Shannon needs it the most.

Any leftover funds will be donated to the Mercy Cancer Center Institute.