Sheli Atkins has spent the last 30 years caring for residents at the nursing home she has worked at since high school. On New Year's Eve, after working a full day, she collapsed, suffering from a brain aneurysm. Fortunately, she quickly received the care she needed. She was incredibly lucky. The angels of those she cared for were surely looking out for her this day.

After eight hours of surgery, she is slowly recovering. Physically, she is making great progress: walking, talking, giving thumbs up and even flipping the bird when appropriate. Her speech and verbal processing will take time to recover. As she heals, she anticipates future surgery to address other aneurysms that need to also be attended to.

She is and always has been a caregiver. She goes out of her way to make sure that her residents have everything that they need, whether it is helping with their day-to-day care, giving an ear to listen, or fixing a hot meal when the kitchen staff isn't there. She loves to cook on her days off and sit in front of a fire on a nice cool night. She loves euchre with friends and traditions with the family. After all her years of helping others, she needs our help now.

Sheli and her family would benefit from any help you could give. As Sheli and Chris work to process disability, insurance and the many layers of care necessary, your donation would help them to make ends meet and help them to cover the upcoming expenses of the long-term care she will need.