Shelby’s Story

Site created on June 8, 2018

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Rian Cook

To all of Shelby's friends and supporters out there, this will be my final post on CaringBridge.  I'm torn because in one respect by ending her journal it reminds me how final her passing is; however it also reminds me that she is no longer suffering and in pain and is most likely smiling down on us all now.  I want to say how deeply appreciative I am of the tremendous outpouring of support and love Shelby received throughout her journey.  I hope that is in some small way this journal helped all of your understand how tough and courageous she was and how much your support helped us.  For those that donated to her GoFundme sites, here is how you helped;

-week long stay at a skilled nursing facility
-3 weeks worth of private caregiving allowing me to go to work and pay our other bills
-hundreds of dollars worth of uncovered medical expenses, from cases of bed pads to a wheelchair pad and a transferboard, to name a few. 
-In our 19mo battle we had over 500 trips to a hospital or medical facility of some sort, which equates to about $1500 in gas.
-We made 5 trips to Houston to take her to MD Anderson in hopes of finding help for her necrosis.  Each trip was over $3000 in airfare, hotel, and ground transportation.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but the point is that we couldn't have done it without the support of all of you, both financially and spiritually.  If I've learned anything from this is that there is still decency and humanity, generosity and thoughtfulness abound.  In the chaos of our 19mo experience and in an era of vitriol and hate, my outlook has changed and my cynicism lessened.  My goal, after the pain subsides, will be to figure out how to be a better person and learn from this experience and the kindness that all of you have shown us.

Shelby's Service will be at 11am on Jan 31st at St Michael's Cathedral downtown Boise.  A Celebration of Life event will immediately follow with location TBD.  I will send out evites, emails, and post on social media.  We will also make and announcement at the service and if nothing else you can call, email or text me.

Lastly, I am asking the administrators of her 2 GoFundme sites close them down.  If anyone would like to donate in honor of her I am including 3 opportunities that are important to her kids and her parents.

-Connor's College Baseball fundraiser; Shelby was his biggest fan and would have been so proud of him getting to play college baseball. 

https://wefund4u.com/fundraiser/bigbend20/email/182126/rianf18@yahoo.com/

-Hailey's trip to Vietnam in July; Hailey wants to be a doctor and this trip gives her a 2 week immersion course in a hospital.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/haileys-futuredocs-vietnam-trip?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

This fund provides school supplies to underprivileged kids.  St Stephen's, Shelby's church since she was born, has been a part of the Keller (her parents) family for 40 yrs. 

-Davis Education Fund of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Boise.  There is no electronic mechanism to donate but you can bring donations to the service or celebration of life and make them in honor of Shelby.

God bless and hope to see many of you at her service. 

Rian
208-340-2967
rianf18@yahoo.com
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