Kabel Sheehan's journey with brain cancer

Hi, My name is Kevin Sheehan and I'm trying to raise funds for my sister-in-law, my brother, and their 5 kids.

In 2016 as my brother Ryan was getting ready for work, he found my sister-in-law Kabel having a seizure. This ultimately led to finding a brain tumor, more specifically a glioblastoma, a fast-growing malignant tumor. Over the next few weeks Kabel would undergo tumor resection, chemotherapy, radiation treatment, along with several weeks away from their kids in a rehabilitation hospital. Post-surgery was also difficult due to left side paralysis for Kabel, but after many months of physical therapy she was able to regain some of the functions in her left arm and left leg. Since then, Kabel was in remission, happy to be here but still limited to what she could do with the ongoing paralysis. No longer able to work and keep her art and design company going. Ryan took a new job to be closer to home and the family, and Ryan and Kabel added to their family. This past year in October they welcomed their fifth child Tinsley Krew, along with their other four children Kyla (11), Evan (9), Koda (7) and Asher (3).

After many years of MRIs and testing Kabel’s testing schedule was reduced showing no signs of the tumor returning. However, this past Christmas while I was up in Michigan visiting the whole family for the holidays, another unfortunate event happened. On Christmas Eve as Ryan, Kabel and the kids were getting ready to head to church, Kabel started feeling odd. She began to lose feeling and function on her left side from her fingertips to the side of her face. That led to Ryan calling 911. The children were scared so I stayed with them while Kabel was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, having suffered multiple seizures while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. After numerous tests that evening at the hospital she was sent home without any answers as the MRI showed no active signs of anything wrong and all the other tests came back normal, but Kabel knew something was wrong.

Kabel’s neuro-oncologist moved up her scheduled MRI for August to March, which was the soonest available. Over the months to come Kabel continued to have frequent seizures leading to complete loss of function in her left arm and hand again, severe migraines, some of which led to 911 calls, and more time spent in emergency rooms.

In March they received news they were hoping to never hear again. Kabel’s scheduled MRI showed tumor regrowth around her resection where they removed the previous tumor and surrounding brain matter. Kabel was given the option to go through another 30 rounds of radiation therapy of which she completed in June. Not without its challenges as Kabel could no longer drive, Ryan used every last day of paid time off at work for doctor’s visits to support Kabel, but it also still required help from friends and the community to get Kabel to all of her radiation appointments. I can’t thank the community enough for helping with transportation and meals throughout this time.

On July 6th Kabel, Ryan, and her doctors met and thankfully her post radiation MRI showed that the radiation worked, and they do not see active tumor growth. However, unfortunately the scan did show that prior to her radiation therapy starting the tumor had further spread around the area.

This has been a challenging season in their lives to say the least. As of right now there are no other treatment options for Kabel. Anyone that knows Kabel personally knows what a positive person she is, and how strongly she leans into her faith. She is determined to raise her children and have many more years enjoying being a wife, mother, friend, and member of the community.

Her most recent MRI will be her new baseline scan and she will receive a new MRI every two months from here on out. Ryan and Kabel stand strong in their faith in Jesus and are hopeful that with continued occupational and physical therapy, she will continue to recover and regain functions in her arm and leg on her left side. As well as be healed from this cancer once and for all.

Many people have asked how they can help the family through this and while they have been blessed with meals and transportation for Kabel, they are starting to see the significant effects this season has had on their finances. Since Christmas Eve Ryan has struggled to maintain hours at work. There have been numerous times that he has had to rush out of work to go home to take care of Kabel or the kids because she was either having a seizure or terrible migraines. Even with receiving help from drivers to and from daily radiation the daily uncertainty of living with these side effects resulted in Ryan using all his vacation time very quickly to be there physically and emotionally for his family, as well as bring Kabel or one of their 5 kids to appointments throughout the weeks. With Kabel not being able to drive right now they sold their second vehicle and have sold just about all that they can to try and stay afloat. With lost hours, loss of a secondary income, ongoing medical bills, additional out of pocket expenses, and the everyday challenges of raising kids, it has caught up to them they’re finding it hard to stay on top of things financially as these challenging time continues.

Ryan’s work has been beyond a blessing by allowing him to come and go as needed. They are doing their best to support him but after using all his PTO for the year any additional time Ryan takes off is unpaid, and as Kabel and Ryan continue to walk through this there will still be needs for Ryan to take more time off. Though they are hopefully past the busiest point of all of this. It has taken a toll on their lives in every possible way. Ryan now has all the driving responsibility for the family. Driving the kids to and from appointments along with potential other appointments Kabel has as she sees an entire team of doctors. Kabel is also doing occupational and physical therapy weekly and will be doing so for some time yet, we are very thankful for the people that have been able to step up and drive her to and from these appointments as well as help with the kids so Ryan can start to maintain better hours at work.

Ryan and Kabel are a very faithful couple and believe deeply in the ability for God to still perform miracles as well as provide peace to a rather warring situation. Their faith is what has gotten them through this in the past and while they hoped to never face this again, their faith will continue to carry them through the rest of this journey.

On behalf of my family, I and they are thankful for whatever you can give to help relieve some of the financial stress that comes with facing cancer. I hope you can share this story. Continued thoughts and prayers are always welcome so they can concentrate on healing and just being a family. Any help you can provide is deeply appreciated

To learn more about this family and their journey watch the video below. Their story starts at the 33-minute mark: https://vimeo.com/581754502