MEDWAY, Mass. — A former NICU nurse and foster mom to more than 20 children is on a mission to complete her bucket list as she battles ovarian cancer.
Shelly Sepulveda, who has given back to her community for years by fostering drug-addicted children and adopting five kids with her wife Tami, was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2024.
Over the past year, Shelly has been hospitalized nine times, and she has been on oxygen since October.
“I think when you get diagnosed with a terminal illness, it kind of really makes you think about what you want to do in life,” Shelly said. “You might have a limited time here.”
Shelly’s top bucket list item is to attend a Celtics-Lakers game. Her son Samuel’s girlfriend Emma Barucci had bought her tickets for the December 5 game. But Shelly ended up in the hospital for a five-day stay, receiving blood and platelet transfusions, unable to make it to the Garden.
Emma posted on social media, called and emailed the Celtics and attended the game with Sam in Shelly’s place, determined to get on the Jumbotron, holding a sign that read: “Celtics nation, cheer for Shelly! She’s fighting ovarian cancer and this was her dream game!”
“She’s just genuinely such a good person, and she has such a good attitude,” Emma said. “Every day, she wakes up and she has a smile, and she gets up and does things.”
Watching from home after being discharged from the hospital, Shelly spotted Sam and Emma on TV.
“I cried, because they were helping me live out my dream going to that game for me,” Shelly said. “And I kept watching it when they got on the Jumbotron. I think I watched it 10 times.”
“Just made me feel really happy,” Sam said of his mom’s reaction. “Happy in a way that I’ve never felt before.”
Shortly after the game, the Celtics organization reached out to Emma and sent a basketball autographed by the entire team to Shelly’s home – a complete surprise to her, a longtime fan and former basketball player herself.
“I know it sounds silly, but looking at this basketball every morning gives me that determination, that drive, that motivation, that ambition to get up every day and fight for my life,” Shelly said. “Seeing this every morning makes me get up and want to be here for my kids and show them that I’m still strong even though I’m sick.”
Since becoming ill, Shelly has achieved her goal of traveling to the Grand Ol Opry.
Her sister-in-law stepped in for her and hiked part of the Appalachian Trail when she was too sick to make her trip.
Shelly still hopes to attend a Celtics game and to make it to a Patriots game, as her boys are big fans of quarterback Drake Maye.
If she is healthy enough to hop a plane, Shelly also dreams of traveling to Italy, touring Rome and eating Italian food.
Shelly’s community has set up a GoFundMe accountto support her family during their fight.
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