In Support of Shauna Niedan (Fight With Shauna)
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Fight With Shauna: Help Her Fight To Reach The Surgery To Save Her Life
This is Shauna.
If you know her, you probably know her as the person who helps everyone else, figures things out, keeps moving, keeps working, keeps serving, and somehow finds a way even when life gets hard.
Now, for one of the first times in her life, she needs the people around her to help carry part of the load.
And we need to get busy.
Recently, Shauna went to urgent care thinking she was dealing with another bad throat or sinus infection.
Instead, the doctor immediately recognized that something much more serious was happening and sent her straight to the emergency room.
By the time Shauna arrived, she was struggling to breathe, struggling to swallow, becoming disoriented, and feeling as though she was being strangled.
Doctors worked to stabilize her airway and rushed her for imaging.
That is when this situation became very real.
The CT scan revealed a massive growth involving her thyroid and compressing critical structures in her neck, including her trachea and esophagus.
The mass is so large that it is physically pushing and displacing the structures she relies on to breathe and swallow.
And then came the confirmation no one wanted.
A biopsy confirmed cancer.
This was no longer a possibility, a suspicious scan, or something that could simply be watched.
Shauna is facing cancer.
She has fought cancer before, including melanoma and ovarian cancer.
But this fight is different.
Because this time, the biggest challenge is not simply removing the cancer.
The biggest challenge is getting Shauna's body safely to the surgery that can remove it.
This Is Where It Gets Complicated
Shauna is also battling an extraordinarily rare and potentially life threatening autoimmune disease called Type B Insulin Resistance Syndrome, or TBIRS.
TBIRS is not typical diabetes and it is not ordinary insulin resistance.
With TBIRS, the immune system produces antibodies that attack or interfere with the body's insulin receptors.
This can make the body profoundly resistant to insulin and cause extreme hyperinsulinemia along with severe and sometimes unpredictable changes in blood sugar.
Patients can experience extremely difficult to control high blood sugar and, in some cases, dangerous episodes of low blood sugar.
The condition is so rare that its true prevalence worldwide is unknown.
A major systematic review of published medical literature identified only 119 reported clinical cases across 65 publications.
Even the National Institutes of Health, one of the major referral centers studying this disease, recently reported on only 38 patients evaluated between 1976 and 2024.
That rarity means there is no simple standardized treatment plan and very few physicians will ever personally encounter a patient with TBIRS.
Published medical literature has also documented the seriousness of the disease, with a reported mortality rate of approximately 15 percent among cases included in the largest systematic review.
That is part of what makes Shauna's situation so medically complicated.
She is not simply preparing for cancer surgery.
She is preparing for cancer surgery while simultaneously trying to stabilize an exceptionally rare autoimmune metabolic disease that can dramatically alter how her body responds to insulin, blood sugar changes, stress, anesthesia, surgery, healing, and recovery.
Because of TBIRS, combined with Shauna's medical history and previous serious complications with anesthesia, doctors cannot simply schedule a routine thyroid surgery and remove the cancer.
Surgery itself places significant metabolic stress on the body.
Stress hormones released during surgery can increase blood glucose and insulin resistance.
In someone whose insulin receptors are already being disrupted by an autoimmune disease, glucose management becomes considerably more complex.
This is why stabilizing Shauna's TBIRS is not simply about getting better numbers on a laboratory report.
It is about getting her body into the safest condition possible to withstand anesthesia, major surgery, healing, and recovery.
Then There Is the Anesthesia and Pain Management Risk
As complicated as TBIRS already makes this surgery, there is another major layer her doctors have to plan around.
Shauna has a history of serious anesthesia complications, including malignant hyperthermia susceptibility, hyperactive emergence, and unusually rapid metabolism of certain anesthesia and pain medications.
Malignant hyperthermia is a rare and potentially life threatening reaction that can be triggered by certain medications used during general anesthesia.
In someone who is susceptible, exposure to triggering anesthetics can cause a dangerous hypermetabolic crisis.
Carbon dioxide can rise rapidly.
Heart rate can accelerate.
Muscles can become rigid.
Body temperature can climb.
Severe metabolic abnormalities can develop.
Without immediate recognition and treatment, malignant hyperthermia can become fatal.
This means Shauna's anesthesia team cannot simply follow a standard anesthesia protocol.
They must specifically plan around medications that can trigger malignant hyperthermia, create an individualized anesthesia strategy, carefully monitor her throughout surgery, and have emergency treatment immediately available.
Then there is the other side of the problem.
Shauna has also experienced hyperactive emergence, meaning coming out of anesthesia can be unusually difficult and requires careful management.
She is also known to process certain anesthesia and pain medications unusually quickly.
In simple terms, some medications may not last in her body the way they do for an average patient.
That creates another balancing act for the anesthesia team.
They have to keep her safely and adequately anesthetized throughout a major cancer surgery while avoiding dangerous exposure, protecting her airway, monitoring her metabolic response, accounting for her rapid medication metabolism, and preparing for the possibility of an anesthesia related emergency.
And the medication metabolism complication does not end when surgery is over.
Pain management is another significant challenge.
Shauna's body can process certain pain medications much more quickly than expected.
Medications that might provide another patient with several hours of relief may not provide Shauna with the same duration or level of pain control.
That means keeping her out of severe pain can require much closer monitoring, more frequent reassessment, individualized medication choices, and a carefully coordinated pain management plan.
This is especially important because uncontrolled pain after major surgery is not simply uncomfortable.
It places additional stress on the body.
It can raise heart rate and stress hormones.
It can affect breathing.
It can interfere with sleep, movement, nutrition, and healing.
It can also lead to tension, crying, coughing, agitation, and shallow breathing at a time when her neck and airway will already have undergone significant surgery.
So her doctors have to balance two difficult things at once.
They have to provide enough pain control to keep her body from being overwhelmed by pain while also making sure the amount and combination of medication remain medically safe.
They have to determine what works in her body, how quickly she processes it, how often medications can safely be given, and what combination of approaches can provide adequate relief.
This is not about simply giving Shauna more anesthesia or more pain medication.
It is about finding the safest possible combination of anesthesia, medication, monitoring, pain control, and critical care support for a body that does not always respond predictably.
When you combine all of this with an already compromised airway, TBIRS, cancer, and a major surgery, the complexity becomes extraordinary.
This is why Shauna's doctors have been consulting with the specialty team at Mayo Clinic.
Getting her safely through surgery will require an extensive level of coordinated care, including a highly specialized surgical team, anesthesia team, metabolic specialists, critical care specialists, a transplant unit team, ICU level care, and specialized postoperative pain management at Mayo Clinic.
Before Surgery Can Happen, They Have to Get Her There
Before the cancer can safely be removed, several major hurdles have to be addressed.
Her TBIRS and laboratory values need to be stabilized.
Her blood sugar and metabolic abnormalities need to be controlled enough to reduce the already significant anesthesia risk.
Her airway needs to remain protected while the mass continues pressing against her trachea and esophagus.
Her nutrition and hydration have to be maintained even though swallowing has become increasingly difficult.
Adding another major layer of complexity, Shauna is currently working through a carefully coordinated combination of more than 11 medications(possibly more as they proceed), treatment therapies and out side of the box protocols NOT covered by insurance since they are considered alternative and designed to help stabilize her body and address the multiple complications happening at the same time.
Many of these treatments can come with side effects of their own, including nausea, stomach upset, coughing, and vomiting.
In most situations those side effects would simply be uncomfortable.
For Shauna, they can be dangerous.
Because the mass is already severely compressing her airway and esophagus, significant coughing, choking, gagging, or vomiting could place even more stress on an already compromised area.
That means the challenge is not simply getting medications into her body.
Those medications have to stay on board.
Her body has to tolerate them.
She has to maintain enough nutrition and hydration to withstand them.
She has to get enough protein and nutrients into her body to maintain strength while swallowing is difficult.
The medications and therapies have to control the conditions they are being used to address without creating another complication that could put her airway at greater risk.
Medication timing matters.
Hydration matters.
Nutrition matters.
Keeping enough food and protein in her body matters.
Preventing nausea and vomiting matters.
Keeping inflammation and metabolic complications controlled matters.
Keeping her blood sugar as stable as possible matters.
Keeping her pain controlled matters.
And keeping her airway protected through all of it is critical.
It is an incredibly delicate balancing act between medication, treatment, nutrition, hydration, blood sugar management, pain management, and airway safety.
Every piece has to work together.
And every treatment, specialist appointment, test, medication, and step toward stabilizing Shauna matters because each one is helping prepare her body for the next major challenge.
At the same time, Mayo has to coordinate the extensive specialty team required for the operation, including surgical, anesthesia, metabolic, transplant unit, ICU, critical care, and postoperative pain management support.
That is why this is not as simple as saying:
“She has cancer. Schedule surgery.”
Surgery is the destination. Keeping Shauna stable enough to safely reach that operating room is the battle happening right now.
Then Shauna Asked the Hardest Question
There came a point when Shauna asked something incredibly difficult.
With everything her body is already fighting, with everything her family would have to go through, with the extraordinary medical complexity and the financial mountain ahead, she asked:
Is all of this worth it?
Would it be kinder to everyone to stop fighting and choose palliative care?
That was not Shauna giving up.
It was Shauna wanting an honest answer.
If the outcome was simply more suffering with very little chance of changing where this ends, she needed to know.
And this is where the entire story changes.
Her medical team told her there is a reason to fight.
A very real one.
At this time, the cancer appears to be contained within the mass, with no current evidence that it has spread into her lymph nodes.
And if they can get Shauna through everything that has to happen first, stabilize the TBIRS, protect her airway, manage the medications and therapies, maintain her nutrition, safely navigate the anesthesia risks, control her pain, and get her into that operating room, her doctors believe the cancer may be completely removable.
That means the hardest part of this journey may actually be getting her to the surgery.
The recovery will still be significant.
Pain management will still be challenging because of the way Shauna's body processes certain medications.
She will still need intensive care, careful monitoring, and healing.
There will still be challenges afterward.
But those challenges are very different from what she is facing right now.
Because if the cancer can be completely removed, Shauna could potentially come out on the other side of this cancer free.
No one can promise exactly how a complex medical situation will unfold.
But this is the win everyone is fighting toward.
Not simply more time.
Not simply slowing the cancer down.
Cancer free.
That is why Shauna chose the fight.
And that is why we are choosing to fight beside her.
Now Comes the Financial Goliath
This is where the urgency becomes very real.
The projected cost of getting Shauna through treatment, stabilization, specialty care, Mayo, surgery, ICU care, specialized anesthesia and pain management, travel, recovery, medications, and the period when she cannot work normally is expected to be at least $225,000.
That number is overwhelming.
But right now, we cannot focus on the entire mountain.
We have to focus on the first critical climb.
The immediate goal is $75,000.
That money needs to begin coming together now.
Not months from now.
Not eventually.
Now.
Because the medical work cannot wait for the full $225,000 to appear.
The medications have to be purchased.
The treatment therapies have to remain on board.
Testing has to happen.
Specialists have to be involved.
Nutrition and hydration have to be maintained.
Mayo requirements and prepayments have to be addressed.
Travel has to be arranged.
Her body has to be stabilized.
Her airway has to remain protected.
Her pain has to be managed.
And all of those things have to happen while the team works toward getting her safely into surgery.
This truly has become all hands on deck.
There is no single person in Shauna's family who can write a check and make this problem disappear.
There is no simple insurance solution that removes all of these costs.
There is no luxury of saying, “We will figure it out later.”
The medical clock is already moving.
That is why we are asking a lot of people to help carry a little bit of this mountain together.
We are raising an immediate $75,000 toward a total anticipated need of at least $225,000 to help cover:
Medical treatments and medications needed to stabilize Shauna
Care related to managing her extraordinarily rare Type B Insulin Resistance Syndrome
More than 11 medications and treatment therapies currently being coordinated
Specialized anesthesia planning and care
Specialized postoperative pain management
Specialty testing and consultations
Nutritional support while swallowing is compromised
Mayo Clinic expenses and required prepayments
Travel and lodging for specialty treatment and surgery
Hospital and surgical expenses
Transplant unit and ICU related care
Recovery and aftercare
Basic living expenses while her ability to work is significantly reduced
Shauna is still working from her computer whenever her body safely allows her.
If you know her, that will not surprise you.
She wants to work.
She wants to continue serving people.
She wants to continue teaching, creating, building, and helping others.
She is not asking everyone else to solve her life for her.
She is doing everything she can.
But she cannot physically work her way out of a $225,000 medical crisis while simultaneously trying to keep her body stable enough to survive it.
That is where we come in.
This Is Not a "Poor Shauna" Story
Shauna has been adamant about this from the beginning.
She does not want pity.
She does not want to be looked at as helpless.
She does not want cancer or an extraordinarily rare disease to become her identity.
In her words, she refuses to be the victim.
She wants to be the victor.
And one thing is important for people to understand.
Shauna is not lying in a hospital bed waiting for something to happen.
She is at home doing the best she can with the physical limitations she has right now.
Because of the pressure and compression in her neck, she is not able to comfortably just lie down and rest the way most people would expect someone in this situation to do.
Much of her day is spent sitting upright or carefully moving around as tolerated.
Her mobility and physical function are limited.
Her energy is limited.
Her breathing and swallowing have to be constantly considered.
But she is not sitting still waiting to die.
She is working from home whenever her body allows it.
She is on the computer.
She is trying to keep her businesses moving.
She is trying to solve problems.
She is working with her doctors.
She is coordinating medications, treatments, appointments, nutrition, finances, and the next steps toward Mayo.
She is doing everything she can with what her body will currently allow.
She is scared.
She would be lying if she said she wasn't.
She has asked the hard questions.
She has considered what giving up would look like.
And after getting the answer from her doctors that there is a genuine path to the other side of this, she made her decision.
She is ready to fight.
She wants to live.
She wants to see her daughter continue building her life, someday see her get married, and watch her conquer the medical field she is so passionate about.
She wants to see her son and his wife continue building their life together, creating memories, chasing their dreams, and living their very best life.
She wants more time with her mom.
She wants more time with her sister, her family, and her friends.
She wants to be the sister who gets to go have fun again, not just the sister who needs someone taking care of her.
She wants to keep working.
She wants to keep helping people.
She wants to laugh.
She wants to travel.
She wants to teach.
She wants to create.
She wants to serve.
She wants to celebrate.
She wants all of the ordinary moments that suddenly do not feel ordinary anymore.
There is still a lot of life Shauna intends to live.
And if we can help get her through this incredibly complicated road to surgery, there is a very real possibility that she gets to live that life without this cancer.
That is the win.
That is what makes this worth fighting for.
How You Can Help Right Now
We need help getting the first $75,000 together as quickly as possible.
If you can donate, please do not think your amount is too small.
$10 matters.
$25 matters.
$50 matters.
$100 matters.
$500 matters.
$1,000 matters.
A hundred people giving a little can move this mountain just as powerfully as one person giving a lot.
Every donation helps keep medications on board.
Every donation helps pay for another test.
Every donation helps support another piece of treatment.
Every donation helps maintain the nutrition and care her body needs.
Every donation helps move Shauna another step toward Mayo.
Every donation helps build the bridge between where she is today and the operating room that could change the rest of her life.
If you cannot donate, please share this.
Share it with your family.
Share it with your friends.
Share it with your church.
Share it with your coworkers.
Share it with your community.
Share it with anyone who may know someone willing to help.
One share can reach the person who changes everything.
And if you are a person of faith, please pray.
Pray that Shauna's airway remains stable.
Pray that her body tolerates the medications and therapies she needs.
Pray that her TBIRS can be stabilized.
Pray that her nutrition and hydration remain strong enough to sustain her.
Pray for wisdom and precision for her doctors.
Pray for the anesthesia team managing an incredibly complicated set of risks.
Pray that her doctors are able to find the safest and most effective way to control her pain before and after surgery despite the way her body processes certain medications.
Pray for the surgical, metabolic, transplant unit, ICU, and critical care teams at Mayo.
Pray that the financial resources arrive quickly enough.
Pray that every piece falls into place.
And pray that Shauna gets safely into that operating room, through the surgery, through recovery, and onto the other side of this cancer free.
Shauna has spent much of her life showing up for other people.
Now it is our turn to show up for her.
The biopsy confirmed the cancer.
The mass is compromising her breathing and swallowing.
She is fighting an extraordinarily rare autoimmune disease at the same time.
Her anesthesia history adds another potentially life threatening layer of complexity.
Her rapid medication metabolism makes both anesthesia and pain management more difficult.
More than 11 medications and treatment therapies have to remain carefully balanced.
The surgery requires a level of specialty care that includes Mayo, a transplant unit team, ICU support, and specialized postoperative pain management.
The total financial need is expected to reach at least $225,000.
The first $75,000 is needed now.
But please do not lose the most important part of this story in all of those frightening numbers.
There is hope.
The cancer currently appears contained.
There is no current evidence of lymph node spread.
There is a surgery her doctors believe could remove it.
There is a path to cancer free.
And there is a woman who has decided she is absolutely not finished yet.
So now we get busy.
We raise the first $75,000.
We keep the medications and treatments moving.
We stabilize her body.
We protect her airway.
We keep her nourished.
We manage the pain.
We get her to Mayo.
We get her safely to surgery.
We manage the difficult recovery that follows.
We share.
We pray.
We rally.
And we do everything we can to help Shauna get to the win waiting on the other side of this Goliath.
Cancer free.
Thank you for donating.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for praying.
And thank you for fighting beside Shauna.
Here’s how you can make a difference:
Here’s how you can make a difference:
- Choose from Support Registry options
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A Special Fund for the Shauna Niedan (Fight With Shauna) has also been set up at all One American Bank locations if you prefer to donate via check. Checks can me made out to Shauna Niedan.
For SSB locations visit: https://oneamericanbank.com
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'Share' to Spread the Word to family and friends
- 'Follow' Updates to stay informed
- DON'T STOP PRAYING!
To Follow her Journey or send a message on her prayer wall go to FightWithShauna.com
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- Created Aug 28, 2026
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Lia Valdez 2 days ago • with donation
Marv & Margaret Niedan 2 days ago • with donation
Kerry Mishuk 3 days ago • with donation
Crystal Fisher 4 days ago • with donation
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