Memorial Day Weekend – – Remembering Sheelan

Thank goodness all my sisters are still alive at least the sisters I grew up with, that I know of. But I do have a sister, well sister-in-law, former sister-in-law who passed on while she was my sister-in-law, if that makes any sense. Her name was Sheelan (if you care to do a search of this website you will find a number of posts that mention Sheelan). Sheelan was a person who was a quadriplegic much like me but who had a much more severe injury and I sustained. In fact, her injury was similar to my friend Gene's who are wrote about yesterday.

I got to know Sheelan when she came to the independent living Center for services. I thought Sheelan was amazing. I believe she was still a teenager when she broke her neck and automobile accident. She lived at the centers apartment complex for people with disabilities learn to live independently. She did so well she ended up being employed at the Independent living Center. She became part of the I L family. She was a little rocker roller – – a redheaded rock 'n roller. She smoked like a smokestack, drank like a fish and she was totally in love with life. You couldn't help below Sheelan. Sheelan story is so elaborate it would take too long to fill out one post. Her life at least is a long short story if not novel.

Sheelan died in the late winter or early spring. As I said Sheelan was a quadriplegic and she requires a chest and affection, a bad cold which settled in her lungs. I don't know how many people know that if you quadriplegic many times if not usually contacted your lungs are affected, your diaphragm is usually paralyzed to some degree making it difficult to expel the air or breath. The first of the week Sheelan was coughing around the office and got worse over the week there is a party Friday or Saturday night she was coughing pretty bad than. Later during the weekend she would in the hospital slipped into a coma and died the following week of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

I was so fortunate for a short period to have her as my sister-in-law. She married my then wife's brother Dell. It was a short marriage only a couple years long and very feisty but they are kind of cute couple I miss them both. Sheelan eventually dumped Dell. She owned a home in a nice area Salt Lake County which she often shared with parts of her family. Now you got understand not only did she have the challenge of being a quadriplegic but she came from a family who had a number of significantly deaf members. In fact Sheelan's mother was a deaf counselor at our independent living Center. She will of course signed fluently and fluently read sign. I am surprised at how well your family read her sign. Sheelan passed in the 1990s I really cannot remember the exact date or even year but I know Sheelan died well before the Towers fell. She is one of the few that I'd love to sit down and visit with about all that has happened since she passed. I would've loved to see how she aged.