Support Shelby: Young Mom & Transplant Survivor Fight Cancer

My wife, Shelby, is the strongest person I know. At just 32 years old, she has been diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Carcinoma Stage 4 high grade cancer very recently and unexpectedly - A rare and aggressive cancer that has spread to her liver. She spent almost a month in the hospital here in Seattle, Washington back in March - April of 2025 after complaining of stomach and liver pain. She underwent 1 round of chemo, but went back to the hospital as she got very sick. Shelby is a mom to our beautiful almost 3 year old daughter, our miracle baby.

During the summer of 2013, Shelby received a life saving liver transplant. At just 21 years old and going into her senior year in college at Western Washington University (WWU), she received a second chance at life. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called PSC during her sophomore year of college (Jan of 2012), which came out of nowhere. Shelby played soccer her whole life and was a healthy / active child growing up. Nobody in her family had any health issues. She is the first in her family to go to a university, so she wasn’t going to let a liver transplant stop her. Shelby stayed in school while she was very sick and returned to school in September of 2013, right after her transplant. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in March of 2015, a huge accomplishment.

During her last months of college, Shelby was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC), which was pretty difficult on her as she lost a lot of weight, was very fatigued, and had intense stomach pain. She got a good job after college and powered through, but most days were spent running to the restroom, especially on any outings we had which became very difficult, needing to be always close to a bathroom at any given moment. In 2019, her doctors were finally able to get the UC under control, after many failed attempts of different medications for years. Those 4 years were hard on us, especially because we were told Shelby may not be able to carry a child, and her dream was to always be a mom.

Shelby and I met back in 2012 at WWU and I asked her to be my girlfriend, for the third time, after she had her liver transplant. She finally said yes and we’ve been together ever since. I asked her to marry me during a vacation to southern California in 2018 to which she said yes. We got married in beautiful Santa Barbara in August of 2019.

Shelby always wanted to be a mom, especially to a baby girl. There were years we thought we wouldn’t be able to have our own child, but a few years after we got married we got the green light that it was safe for Shelby to have a child, meaning her UC was under control and her liver was functioning great. Shelby got pregnant in early 2022 and we were thrilled to welcome a baby girl in September of that year… but again God had other plans.

After all the things Shelby had gone through, in July of 2022, at 29 weeks pregnant, she had a placenta abruption to which she was rushed to the ER. We thought she would have the baby that day, but thankfully the doctors were able to stop the bleeding and keep Shelby and baby safe for weeks longer. She stayed in the hospital for a month as it wasn’t safe for her to leave.

At exactly 32 weeks, it was no longer safe for the baby to stay in Shelby’s belly (Shelby started bleeding again) so she was rushed to have an emergency c-section. Our beautiful daughter, Emma, was born at the very end of July at 32 weeks old and was just 3 pounds. Emma stayed in the NICU at the University of Washington Medical Center and we brought her home finally in September of 2022. Everything was starting to look up and we were over the moon to be a family of 3, well 5, as we have 2 fun labrador retrievers, Charlie and Chance.

The news of the cancer has been very devastating to our family. Most days I feel numb, but I'm doing everything I can to stay strong for our family. While Shelby was in the hospital fighting the chemo and infections we thought at one point she wouldn’t make it. I pray to God every night and am thankful God is here watching over her. I can’t imagine my life without her and she is fighting every day to beat this. She is too young and Emma deserves to grow up with her mom. Anyone who knows her, will tell you she is the nicest, most genuine human being. She puts others before herself, is hard working, and is just a good and loving person. She has a great sense of humor and will make anyone laugh. Her smile lights up the room.

Your support will make a difference in our lives during this difficult time. Shelby is off work for the next several months to fight this. We’ve been very fortunate to have an amazing Cancer Facility here in Seattle. We will also be going to Houston, Texas in early June to one of the best cancer centers for this type of cancer for a second opinion. Any donation, no matter the size, will help with flights to and from Texas, medical bills, and daily expenses such as mortgage, etc.

Please keep us in our thoughts and prayers.

With love and many thanks,

Scott

#ShelbyStrong #LiverTransplantSurvivor #YoungMom #UlcerativeColitis #Cancer #Seattle #Houston #WWU #UWMC #DonateLife