Cancer patients receive dream trips
COSHOCTON – The past year has been very trying for Scott and Brenda Shepherd, but they will soon get a much needed break thanks to the Dream Foundation.
Scott was one of two oncology patients at Coshocton Hospital that were awarded with trips from the Dream Foundation that the hospital learned about from Genentech, a pharmaceutical company that they work with.
“I’m very happy,” said Brenda, Scott’s wife. “We need a break. The past year has been nothing, but cancer.”
Scott has been battling esophagus cancer for the past year and learned about the Dream Foundation from Jackie Mason, oncology head nurse.
“The representatives from our drug company talked to us about the program and as a team we started talking about people that would be good for it,” Mason said. “This is our first time ever doing this and the Dream Foundation has been so good to work with.”
She and other staff members on the oncology floor had the pleasure of joining Genentech representatives on April 11 at the hospital to present the Dream Foundation gifts.
The Shepherds will be traveling to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and then Brenda said they will get to travel to watch her son graduate from his U.S. Army training.
“I’m just looking forward to chilling,” she said.
The other patient to receive a trip was Sandy Shrimplin, a former nurse at the hospital. She and her husband Scott will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they plan to do as much as they can in three days.
“I’m feeling so much better because of the care I got from here,” Sandy said. “They got me going again.”
One of the many things she hopes to do while in Nevada is see the Grand Canyon.
“We’ve been trying to see it for 18 years now, ever since we got married,” Sandy said.
They have plans to see a show, are going to try to stop by the Pawn Stars store, and possibly renew their wedding vows while they are in Las Vegas. Sandy even has a list of places she wants to take pictures at.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and this is going to be a dream, but we really are going,” she said. “It’s a lot to do in three nights, but I’m going to take my medicine and keep going.”
She also plans to try the slot machines.
“If I happen to hit the million dollar jack pot I’m going to help this (the oncology) floor out and get them some new equipment,” she said.
Sandy started at the hospital in 2001 and many of the nurses who gathered for her presentation said she was a mentor to them and one of the sweetest and kindest people they’ve ever met.
“I’ve had a lot of good colleagues and friends here over the years,” she said.
Sandy was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in April or May of 2010 and had nothing, but kind words to say about the oncology staff and the care she has received from them.
“They are wonderful and very knowledgeable,” she said. “When I was diagnosed, I was told my life expectancy was only two years. I kept praying and asking God for a miracle and then one day I realized I already am one and now here I am six years later. I just keep going.”
The Dream Foundation is basically like Make a Wish for adults and Sheila Phillips from Genentech said that anyone from nurses to social workers to family members can nominate a terminally ill person, age 18 or older for the program. They also can request almost anything except to travel internationally.
“This gives them the chance to make memories forever,” Phillips said.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
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