Shelly Gardner

SUCCESS STORY

Featuring: Shelly Gardner

GREETINGS SHELLY

One word sums up Shelly Gardner…SUCCESS! She’s someone who has a work ethic which propelled her to success in the finance world with big companies. She’s a successful fighter, even from her deathbed! She’s a successful survivor, when the medical world gave up on her, she didn’t give up on herself and became a mother during it all! During her lowest points, she found success in being the founder of a support group, brought a much-needed cancer detection tool to the 321, and started a charity to help women pay for it!! I hope you find inspiration from her beyond-miraculous journey!

Shelly has lived in the 321 now for about 15 years. Her story began in the small town of Waynesville, Illinois where she grew up on a farm. You can say her work ethic began there. At the age of 12, she worked the corn fields, detasseling corn, and by 13 she was running her own crew. Not meant for a small town, she used education to explore the world!

Her love for numbers earned her a bachelor's degree in finance from Illinois State University and from the day she graduated she had dreams of early retirement, the conventional way of course. You’ll see her path forced her into early retirement, but in what we may consider her short amount of time in the work force, she excelled and put herself on a path of financial freedom, which in turn will be a welcoming component that helped her survive when working was no longer an option and health options were limited.

Her work career started off with a Fortune 500 company, Smurfit-Stone, where she became a controller at the age of 25. Always striving for more, her next opportunity was the role of a finance trainee with Nestle. She started in the chocolate factory in Bloomington, IL and quickly promoted to Financial Accounting Manager of three Willy Wonka Sugar Factories in St. Louis, MO. During this time, she also earned her MBA. After the factories shut down, she moved to Nestle’s water division which landed her in Palm Springs, CA. She helped put cost accounting standards in place where there was no system before. She went back to the east coast, to Greenwich, CT where she helped Nestle launch a new ERP (enterprise resource planning) system.

Her final job was managing finances for LIN Media (now Nexstar), the #1 local network affiliate media company in the United States. The year was 2009, and at the young age of 35 Shelly was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. LIN was an amazing company that allowed her to work from home while she underwent chemotherapy and finally a bilateral mastectomy. During this time, she also was relocated to Melbourne, FL and she has called the 321 home ever since.

When she came to Melbourne, the space shuttle program had just shut down and the housing market was full of opportunities. Being a ‘numbers’ person, she took full advantage, got her real estate license, and started her own real estate investment company.

Next on her list, she wanted to start a family. Before her cancer treatment, she froze her eggs for a future pregnancy. However, she was told due to her chemo it was highly unlikely she would be able to have a baby. But don’t tell Shelly that…she and her now ex-husband, accepted the challenge and after 2 miscarriages and an unsuccessful embryo transfer…she was pregnant!!

The joy of the news was quickly overshadowed by what else was spreading in her body. It was at her 18-week OB appointment when she was recommended to see an oncologist! All her labs came back completely normal, except for ONE…she had blasts in her blood. Shelly asked, “what’s the best- and worst-case scenario” and their reply, leukemia and leukemia. They reran tests to double check and that Saturday she got a call to pack her bags and head straight to the emergency department, she had Acute Myeloid Leukemia and needed life-saving treatment right away.

Due to her pregnancy, it was hard finding a hospital that would treat her. Shands in Gainesville rose to the challenge. Shelly was the first case they had of a pregnant mother with leukemia. There was a lot of research involved in the safest ways to get them both through a successful bone marrow transplant. Shelly and her mom rented an apartment to be close to the hospital during this process. For reasons still unknown, AML typically progresses very quickly and even with Shelly having a very aggressive mutation, it was progressing at a slow rate within her. She believes her baby contributed to it and God was protecting them both.

They all decided to pull the trigger and do the bone marrow transplant when she reached her 27th week of pregnancy. Shelly’s brother was her donor match! During this 2-step process she would need to be confined to a hospital room for a month before. But it was also budget season at work! She brought in a printer and even though the chemo treatments were bad during the first step of the process, she worked through it all. It was sort of two-fold, it kept her mind off the uncontrollable and let her focus on what she could control, including her baby’s birthday! Due to the circumstances, a C-section was advised, and she picked the birthday of 10/11/12, which ironically coincides with TODAY’S newsletter!!

Being born at just 27 weeks, Tegan came into this world, at just over 2 pounds, as a fighter with fiery red hair, just like her mom! She was quickly sent to the NICU and Shelly barely even got to see her, let alone hold her. The day after she delivered Tegan, she finalized her budgets for LIN Media and that was one of the last times she worked.

During this time, there were two low points that stand out the most to Shelly. One night, her mom wheeled her to the NICU to see Tegan and a nurse asked if she was the father…Shelly replied, “I was the mother before I got leukemia!” This is why it’s important for the nurses to read the patient profiles! Her second low point was when another nurse told her to give up and not seek treatment! This is where she learned to advocate for herself! “Not all doctors know everything and sometimes they are wrong. Doesn’t mean I’m right but do your research and advocate for yourself!”

Over the next few years, her company held her job for her, and while she wasn’t actively working, she founded a local support group for young survivors of breast cancer, Beyond Boobs. Through this support group, she and another member learned about an FDA-approved breast screening tool called thermography and together they founded Thermography of Brevard. Thermography is complimentary to other tools for cancer detection, where it can see changes of cancer before it actually becomes a tumor, allowing for treatment to start at the beginning stages!

Three years later, her leukemia relapsed, and she also developed heart, lung, and kidney issues, residual results from the chemo and transplant, and it forced her into early retirement permanently. She stepped down from her role in Thermography of Brevard as well.

During this relapse, she was just days away from death when she went to the doctor. They quickly got her to Shands and again, she and her parents rented another apartment where her parents could help her take care of her now active 3-year-old daughter while she got the treatment she needed to survive. Original plan was for another bone marrow transplant, but her heart and kidneys failed, and the doctors knew her body wouldn’t make it through another BMT. They decided on just giving her an injection of her brother’s donor cells and what should’ve been a series of those injections, they stopped after just one. After nine months of constant complications, they gave up. Shelly’s family was brought in to discuss palliative care and keeping her comfortable during the little time she had left. She was sent home terminally in 3 different ways, heart and kidney failure and leukemia. She also had graft vs host disease which was affecting her lungs along with many other complications.

Shelly did not accept this fate! She was a single mother with a daughter who needed her! She started self-paying for doctors that insurance wouldn’t cover, she made diet and lifestyle changes. The key for her was to do things one step at a time. She also simplified her life and sold her four investment houses. She let go of stressful situations and toxic relationships. Shelly feels stress is a major factor in her development of cancer and her relapse.

Not to sit around though, Shelly started a charity…Stop the Pink! Corporation. One of the obstacles she would hear about breast thermography was the cost. Stop the Pink! is a 501c3 to fund women with financial constraints to pay for what could be life-saving images! She hosts events to raise funds and is thankful for all the awesome donors!

ENJOY SHELLY’S RESPONSES

TOP 3 SUCCESS TIPS

Never Give Up
Hard work and not being a quitter will get you somewhere in life. Keep in mind only one person knows your destiny and their initials aren’t DR.!

Health Over Insurance
Sometimes, the best health care isn’t the ones that are covered by insurance. Had that been the case I wouldn’t be alive since the ones covered by insurance had given up on me. Now, they are in awe of how good I’m doing.

Tomorrow is Never Promised
Stop putting off all the things you want to do. When I was told I was terminal, I was so sick that had I even wanted to do something one last time, I was too sick to do it. It was an awful feeling, so I really try and enjoy life as much as possible!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Control Freak! During my career, I was a control freak because it was hard to see things not done as well as I would have done it. Now that I don’t work, my biggest weakness is probably being too laid back. 🤣

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE JOURNEY

My inspiration is my daughter. Without her, I don’t think I would have fought as hard. She needs me and she is everything to me. I am so thankful for her.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Make your bucket list when you’re young and don’t wait until you’re too old or get too sick to be able to enjoy life and explore! Work hard, find a reason, stay strong, and live life!

THANK YOU SHELLY

Thanks, Shelly, for allowing me to share your story with my readers! It wasn’t until I put your story in a timeline where I realized, I have had the pleasure of knowing you through most of it! You have been such a fiery force since I first met you when you asked me to come over to give you an estimate for cleaning! Quickly realizing we had a lot in common, I think we sat and talked on your couch for over an hour that day! I may have become your cleaning lady, but through these years we’ve also become friends and I’m truly inspired by you! I know the struggles you go through daily and you’re still defying the odds and I’m proud to know you!

To my readers, I hope you can be inspired from Shelly and her perseverance to NEVER GIVE UP! If you find yourself in a hopeless medical situation, look PASS THE INSURANCE! Seek out alternative, holistic, or other forms of treatment. Do your own research on your ailment and within that ailment look for ways that could also help you cover costs! Just like Stop the Pink! I hope you all live your life as TOMORROW IS NEVER PROMISED! Make those bucket lists and start working towards marking things off…now!

Be sure to check out the Thermography of Brevard website to learn more about this fascinating tool! If you need help to get a screening, go to Stop the Pink! where you may qualify for help. If you are in the position to help women and feel led to, please donate to the cause.

TOP 10

Bucket List Ideas

Why wait until you’re on your deathbed to create a bucket list?? By then, it might be too late!! Create one now and start marking it off! You don’t have to be literally dying to do so, because in the end, aren’t we all on our deathbeds starting the day that we’re born?! Live LIFE, while you can!!

Here’s some ideas to start your list, all of which you can do in the USA!

1. Drive Route 66

2. Climb the Statue of Liberty

3. Hollywood Blvd, California

4. Discover Zion National Park

5. Ride the Maid of the Mist

6. Alcatraz

7. The White House

8. Visit Death Valley

9. The Liberty Bell

10. Volcano Spotting in Hawaii

ATHLETES

Believe In Yourself

As an athlete, sometimes, the biggest obstacle is simply just believing in yourself! Believing you’re good enough to be on a team, believing in your skills, and believing in your will to succeed!

Once you remove the doubts that go on within your own head, you can reach a potential you never thought was possible. So, turn those doubts into challenges! Find your weaknesses and challenge yourself to improve on them. In doing so, not only are you improving your skill level, but you’re also improving the confidence in yourself.

You are going to come across teammates, coaches, and spectators along your sports journey who aren’t always going to be in your corner. They are going to criticize you, put you down, tell you that you’re not good enough, you’re too short or too tall, too thin or too fat, too slow, or just not good enough! Don’t let those manifest into something you believe!

Learn to control the uncontrollable. If there’s something that could pose as a disadvantage that you can’t control, such as height, learn to use your height to the advantage! I’ve seen many players be told they’re too short to play. Guess what, they turn out to be quick as anything and can move around all those ‘bigger’ players like nothing, producing results the ‘bigger’ athletes can’t! I’ve also seen players be told they’re too tall, and they’re ‘gumby’. Guess what, they work on their coordination, develop their strength and use it as an advantage to accomplish things the shorter players can’t.

Prove them wrong! If someone tells you, this or that, work hard to better yourself in whatever weakness they’re highlighting! Not only will you prove them wrong, but you’re bettering your skills along the way!

Belief is the key to success. Believe you can do something, work hard, and not only prove to them, but prove to yourself…YOU are GOOD!

PARENTS

Keep Your Kids Informed

Life begins with birth and inevitably ends in death, plain and simple, pretty much black and white! It’s that gray space we are unsure of! But no matter how we live within that gray space, everyone’s clock will run out. Some will go peacefully after a long-lived life, and some will end tragically, much too soon. Some will have to endure a sickness, that can end quick and for others, it’ll will keep them suffering longer. Everyone will in one way shape or form pass from this life and leave others to grieve their absence.

I know sometimes we feel it best to shield our kids from the hurt of the world, but when it comes to sickness and even death, maybe we should rethink it to an extent. If a loved one is sick, perhaps share with them the situation. If a loved one is dying, explain the process to them. As hard as it may be, giving them the chance to understand the circumstances may help them cope with it all later. Especially when it comes to grandparents. When your parents pass, you’re already going to be dealing with your own emotions and may not want to be bothered with your own children’s emotions at the time, so talking about it ahead of time could be beneficial. It may also help them to understand your grieving process as well.

You never know, you may have a future doctor or nurse in the family! I grew up with a sick grandfather. For my entire childhood, he was always sick with something. Heart attacks, emphysema, aortic aneurysm, numerous surgeries, and ultimately cancer. He passed when I was 18 years old. I remember being intrigued by it all, sad, but intrigued, always asking questions, and my parents being open and up front with me. They didn’t really ‘sugar coat’ anything and tried their best to explain the conditions. As I got older, I remember being in the hospital at times doctors and nurses would come in and I learned about the body and ailments. I specifically remember being with him when they wheeled him in for his aortic aneurysm and heard the doctor tell my grandma he only had a 20% chance of surviving the surgery… and he did! A few years later, I was there in his hospital room when he took his last breath.

I feel since I was young and was informed of what was always happening, I had a little more understanding in the magnitude of each event. He never wanted to be pitied, nor did I pity him, but our relationship was different. I think I was able to treasure him a little more and when he passed, I was prepared for it.

I think you should consider giving your children the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to handle and prepare for the inevitable a little bit better if they in fact know what is going on. Take the time to talk to your kids if your family is going through medical issues. Ask them if they have questions and no matter how hard they may be to answer, try to find a way, don’t dismiss them. Help them to understand and more than anything, how to cope either watching loved ones who are sick and/or the passing of them.

LIFE

Destress and Potentially Avoid Cancer

Life is stressful! We all know it, whether it be your job, finances, family drama, sickness, or watching a sports event! But did you know there is a link to chronic stress and cancer development??

According to PubMed, it’s true! Studies have shown the presence of chronic stress, produce hormones which can contribute to cancer development and the formation of tumors. Stress causes inflammatory responses and disrupts the immune system, which can lead to the body’s lack of capability to detect and fight the tumor.

Cancer is just one more reason to try to live a stress-free life or find ways to reduce it. Suggestions would be to schedule regular meditation sessions, stretching activities, or yoga. Lucky for us, we have a beach all along the 321…hit the beach for some salt air and a brisk walk.

Reducing stress can help you avoid cancer as can lifestyle changes. It’s never too early to start making changes now to avoid declining health for as long as possible!