Shelly Gray

Shelly Gray is raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with a Catastrophic Illness. Shelly has chosen to fundraise with Help Hope Live in part because donations are tax deductible for contributors and will only be used to cover medical and related expenses.

I’ve been living with progressive multiple sclerosis for over 25 years, adapting to the increasingly debilitating symptoms while remaining as independent as possible. I need your help to maintain that independence by helping with the costs of my medical needs as they mount.

I grew up in Austin, attending Barton Hills Elementary, O. Henry Junior High, and Stephen F. Austin High School, where I was the president of the drill team. I studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and then got degrees in law and social work at Washington University in St Louis. In 1999, the year before I graduated, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, which almost instantly developed into Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

I practiced employment law and civil litigation in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Austin. In 2003, I began a long career in public service as an Assistant General Counsel for the State of Texas Health and Human Services Commission. As my disease continues to progress, I’ve had to make concessions and compromises: I had to stop driving, I need more and more help with tasks of daily living, and I finally had to take disability retirement from my job.

I live with severe unrelenting neuropathic pain. It started in my feet and has been moving up my legs to my calves, and now above my knees.  For the past six months, I’ve been in the hospital, a rehab hospital, and now a skilled nursing facility healing from a severe pressure wound right where I sit and lay.

One of the things I’m most proud of throughout my life, and this whole ordeal, is maintaining my positivity. I try to keep an amazing optimism in the face of an unrelenting disease and continuing crushing disabilities. I hope I’m providing a good example for my son, and for others who take most of the things life gives them for granted.

I want to live the rest of my life in my home and not in a facility. As John Scott begins his first year at Colorado State University, I also want him to know he will be able to return to visit me in his childhood home. To make that happen in the face of mounting health care costs, I need to raise the funds necessary to pay for my caregiving and medical needs at home. Please donate what you can to help me meet this goal and return to my home.

The goal for this campaign is to raise enough money to pay for my care needs at home for one year which is $120,000. But I would greatly appreciate any amount you can donate. Please join me in my quest to live the independent life most of us take for granted. Thank you in advance for all of your donations and help.