Lets Kick Cancer's Ass Patrick Levi Sheppeck!
Donation protected
Written by Shelley, Patrick's mother...
As a 54 year old single mom, I lost my first child 4 hours after her birth due to an un-diagnosed hole in her heart, causing a fatal heart attack. This was two years before my beautiful and perfect son Patrick Levi Sheppeck was born on May 24th, 1997. His father left when he was 9 months old and we’ve not been able to locate him since, so I raised Patrick close to my parents in Farmington, NM to provide open space and a strong male influence, from my father James Sheppeck, retired radiologist. This was a wonderful childhood experience for Patrick, with 100 acres to play on and a great deal of family support from my parents and my aunt.
In 2011, we decided to make a BIG move to Boulder, Colorado, as I wanted a more peaceful lifestyle for Patrick and NM was a violent and difficult place for a young boy of a single mom. We left NM, but the land lives in our hearts. Patrick was a straight-A student then, loved playing football, lacrosse and wrestling-ALL BOY, but with the sweet heart always looking out for the underdog. As a big kid, 190 lbs. and 6’0” in 8th grade you can imagine his athleticism. As a funny aside, he moved from playing clarinet to the piccolo, because he thought it was hilarious to have a big guy playing a small, high- pitched instrument. He was loved, especially for his sense of humor.
He was having some health problems and by 9th grade he had his first severe grand mal seizure that year, explaining some of his past twitching and falling. Seizures slowly took over his high school years to the point he was having multiple grand mals/day and could not participate in school or sports. Luckily we were in Colorado, and by 2012 found solutions for his seizures using marijuana derived CBD. It took until he was 20 years old, to get his seizures under control enough so that he could successfully participate in life more normally. We were thrilled and he really began developing his own path despite his battles with seizures and the threat of status epilepticus taking his life.
He and his girlfriend, Taryn, whom was his friend since 8th grade, decided to try to have a child due to Patrick’s seizures. One of Patrick’s life dreams is to have a big family, since he was an only child, and he wanted to start early given his seizure disorder. He wanted to raise children and be the father he did not have. We were all happy for Patrick and Taryn when they became pregnant and Soren James Sheppeck arrived on Sept. 26, 2018. Patrick was having more seizures and declining health, but with a stiff upper lip, he was up in the middle of the night changing diapers and doing feedings for his beloved new son. Patrick, Taryn, Soren and I all live together, and in the last year, my parents and aunt have moved to Colorado to be closer and provide family support for their new great-grandson, Soren, and help the grandson they raised with me, Patrick.
Everything changed in January 2019, when Patrick collapsed, with blood clots coming from his mouth. Did he have a seizure no one saw? He was certain he did not, and was very scared, so we immediately went to the dentist. From the dentist, he ended up in the ER receiving blood transfusions and platelet transfusions, following the discovery of life threateningly low red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts and platelet counts. Since then, Patrick and our family has gone through the very difficult process of discovering he has acute myeloid leukemia. We are devastated, yet determined to fight for his life. We are exploring all facilities and the best possible genetically directed chemo treatments. I am trying to maintain my job as the only potential income for our family as Patrick undergoes chemo and Taryn helps support him emotionally and physically, and care for their 4 month old Soren.
We are all scared, but determined to fight this and we have great family support. We also are finding we have great community support as well, thanks to people like you! We appreciate all the fund raising and research efforts to date as we explore incredibly advanced genetically directed treatments that didn’t exist even several years ago. While we get through the emotional trauma of the diagnosis, we have extreme hope, which will allow Patrick to fight through difficult treatments. It is people like you that help families like mine to have hope and potentially life-saving treatments that improve and change every month. Thank you for donating on behalf of Patrick’s family and especially from this mom, Shelley, whose family is everything to me. Life is so precious and beautiful, help us live it. Thank you from the bottom of this mom’s heart.
Blessings to you and your loved ones,
Shelley
From the Organizer:
Dear friends, I have received a number of inquiries about how one can donate anonymously. Please see instructions to accomplish that below.
Donating Anonymously
If you're donating from a desktop or laptop computer, please:
1. Visit the campaign you’d like to support and select the "Donate Now" button
2. Choose the "Hide name and comment from everyone but the organizer" option underneath the donation amount and name fields
3. Verify your donation information to save your donation as anonymous
If you're donating from a mobile phone, please:
1. Visit the campaign you'd like to support and select the "Donate Now" button
2. Once you've confirmed your donation, you'll have the option to share the campaign on Facebook
3. On the next page, choose the "Private: Hide my name and comment from the public" option listed below the Comment box
4. Select "Continue" to save your donation as anonymous
If you've already made your donation, you can follow these directions from your donation confirmation receipt to make it anonymous:
1. Scroll down to the bottom of the receipt
2. Select "Manage" in "My Donations"
3. Select "Make donations & comments private" by toggling the switch to the right
As a 54 year old single mom, I lost my first child 4 hours after her birth due to an un-diagnosed hole in her heart, causing a fatal heart attack. This was two years before my beautiful and perfect son Patrick Levi Sheppeck was born on May 24th, 1997. His father left when he was 9 months old and we’ve not been able to locate him since, so I raised Patrick close to my parents in Farmington, NM to provide open space and a strong male influence, from my father James Sheppeck, retired radiologist. This was a wonderful childhood experience for Patrick, with 100 acres to play on and a great deal of family support from my parents and my aunt.
In 2011, we decided to make a BIG move to Boulder, Colorado, as I wanted a more peaceful lifestyle for Patrick and NM was a violent and difficult place for a young boy of a single mom. We left NM, but the land lives in our hearts. Patrick was a straight-A student then, loved playing football, lacrosse and wrestling-ALL BOY, but with the sweet heart always looking out for the underdog. As a big kid, 190 lbs. and 6’0” in 8th grade you can imagine his athleticism. As a funny aside, he moved from playing clarinet to the piccolo, because he thought it was hilarious to have a big guy playing a small, high- pitched instrument. He was loved, especially for his sense of humor.
He was having some health problems and by 9th grade he had his first severe grand mal seizure that year, explaining some of his past twitching and falling. Seizures slowly took over his high school years to the point he was having multiple grand mals/day and could not participate in school or sports. Luckily we were in Colorado, and by 2012 found solutions for his seizures using marijuana derived CBD. It took until he was 20 years old, to get his seizures under control enough so that he could successfully participate in life more normally. We were thrilled and he really began developing his own path despite his battles with seizures and the threat of status epilepticus taking his life.
He and his girlfriend, Taryn, whom was his friend since 8th grade, decided to try to have a child due to Patrick’s seizures. One of Patrick’s life dreams is to have a big family, since he was an only child, and he wanted to start early given his seizure disorder. He wanted to raise children and be the father he did not have. We were all happy for Patrick and Taryn when they became pregnant and Soren James Sheppeck arrived on Sept. 26, 2018. Patrick was having more seizures and declining health, but with a stiff upper lip, he was up in the middle of the night changing diapers and doing feedings for his beloved new son. Patrick, Taryn, Soren and I all live together, and in the last year, my parents and aunt have moved to Colorado to be closer and provide family support for their new great-grandson, Soren, and help the grandson they raised with me, Patrick.
Everything changed in January 2019, when Patrick collapsed, with blood clots coming from his mouth. Did he have a seizure no one saw? He was certain he did not, and was very scared, so we immediately went to the dentist. From the dentist, he ended up in the ER receiving blood transfusions and platelet transfusions, following the discovery of life threateningly low red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts and platelet counts. Since then, Patrick and our family has gone through the very difficult process of discovering he has acute myeloid leukemia. We are devastated, yet determined to fight for his life. We are exploring all facilities and the best possible genetically directed chemo treatments. I am trying to maintain my job as the only potential income for our family as Patrick undergoes chemo and Taryn helps support him emotionally and physically, and care for their 4 month old Soren.
We are all scared, but determined to fight this and we have great family support. We also are finding we have great community support as well, thanks to people like you! We appreciate all the fund raising and research efforts to date as we explore incredibly advanced genetically directed treatments that didn’t exist even several years ago. While we get through the emotional trauma of the diagnosis, we have extreme hope, which will allow Patrick to fight through difficult treatments. It is people like you that help families like mine to have hope and potentially life-saving treatments that improve and change every month. Thank you for donating on behalf of Patrick’s family and especially from this mom, Shelley, whose family is everything to me. Life is so precious and beautiful, help us live it. Thank you from the bottom of this mom’s heart.
Blessings to you and your loved ones,
Shelley
From the Organizer:
Dear friends, I have received a number of inquiries about how one can donate anonymously. Please see instructions to accomplish that below.
Donating Anonymously
If you're donating from a desktop or laptop computer, please:
1. Visit the campaign you’d like to support and select the "Donate Now" button
2. Choose the "Hide name and comment from everyone but the organizer" option underneath the donation amount and name fields
3. Verify your donation information to save your donation as anonymous
If you're donating from a mobile phone, please:
1. Visit the campaign you'd like to support and select the "Donate Now" button
2. Once you've confirmed your donation, you'll have the option to share the campaign on Facebook
3. On the next page, choose the "Private: Hide my name and comment from the public" option listed below the Comment box
4. Select "Continue" to save your donation as anonymous
If you've already made your donation, you can follow these directions from your donation confirmation receipt to make it anonymous:
1. Scroll down to the bottom of the receipt
2. Select "Manage" in "My Donations"
3. Select "Make donations & comments private" by toggling the switch to the right
Fundraising team: Team Patrick Levi Sheppeck (4)
Dan Mahowald
Organizer
Boulder, CO
Shelley Sheppeck
Beneficiary
Doug Sheppeck
Team member
Mary Lou Sheppeck
Team member