Thelma Shepard Boyd

I have had the opportunity in recent days to spend some quality time with my aunt Thelma Shepard Boyd. She has been in the hospital here in San Diego recently. At 87 years old her health is not what it once was. She has been diagnosed with some serious illness. Fortunately, she is being provided great care by her daughter Kim Clark and other family members. 

Kim & Jeff Clark and Thelma Boyd

Kim's husband Jeff Clark posted the following prayer request on Facebook recently which gives you an idea of how she is doing.

Please keep my mother-in-law Thelma Boyd and my wife Kim Clark and Thelma’s grandkids and great grandkids in your prayers. Thelma has had congestive heart failure for the last five years and Dementia for the past three or four years and Alzheimer’s for the past year to year and a half.  Thelma has dealt with this (with daily staff visits and multiple daily reminders) while she lived at her independent senior living facility in El Cajon.  But her situation has now changed. The progression of the Dementia and Alzheimer’s has increased and daily visits and reminders are now not enough.  

She was taken to the hospital last Wednesday evening (July 5) very dehydrated (forgetting to drink).  She has been getting fluids but still not eating much. Doctors said that is part of Dementia and Alzheimer’s.  A person not knowing or wanting to eat or drink.  We are trying to get her placed in a facility where she will have more care but not a nursing home.  Hospice is helping with this. With congestive heart failure and Dementia hospice will help and since she has had both for years they could have been helping her for years, allowing Kim and the grandkids to be a daughter and grandkids instead of the stress of being a caregiver too.

Maida and Barbara Shepard

Thelma is a very special person in our Shepard family. She is the last remaining child of my Grandparents William and Bura Shepard. Thelma at 87, and my mother Maida Gower Shepard at 98, are the last surviving members of their generation in our family. They are both wonderful women who have lived exemplary lives and are living reminders of the great family to which we belong.

Speaking of my mom Maida Shepard in Anacortes, Washington, she too has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and Dementia. Fortunately, she is also being provided good in-home care by her family, in particular by her daughter Barbara.

During this time of illness, please remember Maida and Thelma and those who care for them. Thanks be to God for these two wonderful women who represent the larger family of which we are privileged to be a part.
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Steve Shepard
he/him/his