Support Pat's fight against Brain Cancer and Epilepsy

My name is Pat Shelton, and I am an employee of the Federal Reserve Bank of SF placed on long-term disability. I suffer from brain cancer and epilepsy, being treated at UCSF Medical Center in their Department of Neuro-Oncological Surgery.

I am a proud father of 2, to a 17 y/o boy, Tommy, and a 15 y/o girl, Kyla, who have been heaven on earth for me and a dream come true raising them with my gorgeous wife, Amy.

I have an aggressive form of brain tumor called Astrocytoma Grade 1 glioblastomas, which has to be monitored every 3 months for continuous growth by continued MRIs because it can jump straight to a Grade 3, skipping a Grade 2.

I had this tumor removed in 2021 and asked the surgeon if I get the tumor removed, would I still have the symptoms that led me to discover it by myself after being treated by Kaiser for over a year. The surgeon said what we do here is remove the tumor because we know they growth. The surgeon said that what he suspected I was having brain seizures. UCSF doesn't take just any patient upon request as they need to see your images and be evaluated by their team to view and assign a surgeon to work with prior to being seen. I changed my healthcare benefits at open enrollment and thank god I was treated.

I was told by the treating physician that I would most likely live to see my son graduate from college but would most likely not see my daughter graduate from college. And that hit home. I had always told my wife if upon my deathbed to just play my past pics and videos of my life on a computer for me so I could relive all of the beautiful memories I had in this life.

Sure enough, 2022 was my first breakthrough seizure even having been on anti-seizure meds. What I had was a Tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as grand mal. This lasted about 25 min while my daughter thought what she was seeing her dad dying. 2024 was the year of several Tonic-clonic seizures, including 6 within a 5-day period, in which my daughter had to call 911 for ambulatory care and tell them my dad is having a seizure, which led me to be diagnosed as an epileptic even having been on 3 different anti-seizure meds. This led me to lose my license which put more pressure on my kids who didn't want to drive with dad anymore, and I don't blame them. But most of all I understand it is for the safety of others that losing my license was so important.

To this day I have a

Neuro-Oncologist who orders and reviews my quarterly MRI's for tumor growth.

Neuropsychologist who helps with my neurocognitive degenerative functioning from surgery.

An Epileptologist who monitors my breakthrough seizures and adjusts my 3 separate anti-seizure meds

And I'm on Medicare and Medi-Cal

I'm also on that benefit that I earned called Social Security Disability

What I'm asking for is not handouts, but rather security that my kids aren't drowning in debt knowing how expensive school has become. This isn't a pity party for Pat, we all have our challenges we deal with. All donations will go towards their college fund. In these uncertain times my kids come home and know more about what is going on in this news cycle than I do. And that is scary.

I know the importance of school and how much it means in this competitive landscape.

My son having received 4 A's in Engineering. He has an Engineering Internship with the City of Roseville, a summer internship with Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and another with the US Coast Guard Academy in Engineering. I always tell him how proud of him I am and just amazed at how he has persevered and overcome his challenges.

My daughter is just the same with straight A's and wanting to help people who are need of quality healthcare. Something she might have picked up on in watching her dad struggle with his medical condition. I couldn't be more proud of them.

Any donations go a long way. Thank you for your help.