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At the weekly Board of Trustees
meeting, Shuman rode her wheelchair
to the front of the room and
sat proudly as the members honored
and recognized her for her
involvement in school and her leadership
abilities.
She participated in countless
groups and college affairs such as
the Student Senate, Black Student
Union, Poetry Club and Martin
Luther King celebrations. She was
also a presenter at many college
events and workshops as well as
a representative from SCC to the
Students of Color Conference last
year.
However, Shuman has overcome
many hardships. She was
born with Cerebral Palsy and has
been wheelchair-bound her entire
life. It has affected her speech and
physical abilities, so working on a
homework assignment is imaginably
hard. Shuman takes one class
per quarter and has been attending
SCC since 1996.
Five years ago, Shuman was
diagnosed with Cutaneous T-cell
lymphoma, a cancer of the immune
system that grows on top of
her skin. The cancer is caused by
a mutation of T-cells that push the
malignant T-cells to the skin’s surface,
which causes bicolored patches
all over Shuman’s skin.
During treatment, Shuman
must get her skin grafted up to
four times per week. The treatment
causes patches of her skin
to turn from pink to brown during
the healing process and makes her
illness physically obvious.
“People are afraid that because
I have this cancer, I will die or give
it to them,” said Shuman, of people’s
reactions to the lesions. But
Shuman’s determination to finish
school and to do something great
has not wavered.
Barbara Fiske, Program Coordinator
of the Community Integration
Program at SCC, has worked
with Shuman for eight years now,
and says that she is “very persevering.”
Born in Steubenville, Ohio,
Shuman came to Seattle with her
mother, Gay Threet, when she was
a year old, where they lived with
Shuman’s Aunt. When Threet was
17 years old and Shuman three, she
was no longer able to take care of
Shuman and gave her up for adoption.
A teacher at the Green Lake
School, Mrs. Debbie Shuman, became
the lucky new mother.
When Shuman was 21, her mother
encouraged her to travel and
explore the world. Shuman located
a friend in Brazil and stayed with
her for two weeks. In addition to
Brazil, she has also been to Paris,
London, and San Francisco. That
same year, Debbie also encouraged
Shuman to think about her future.
“When I was 21,” Shuman says,
“I had a meeting with my adopted
parents and a bunch of my teachers.
They asked me what I wanted
to do (in life), and I said I wanted
to go to college. After that, I was
determined to get my degree.”
Shuman has made good on her
promise. Although she is still four
credits short of officially graduating,
she has already completed 94
credits of college-level classes and
is grateful for her chance in obtaining
an education.
“People don’t have the determination
I do,” Shuman says. “If
you’re going to school, do a good
job...Get up every day at a certain
time and concentrate. It’s only six
hours out of 24 hours”
With this type of positive, outgoing
and can-do attitude, Shuman
has made a lot of friends all over
campus and, in her own way, has
become an advocate for the Community
Integration Center, a center
for students with disabilities.
She is currently taking a year off
from finishing the last tidbit of her
education and is making the transition
from being a student to a
working woman.
But being an advocate is not
enough for Shuman. She is hoping
to attend some workshops in the
next year so that one day she will
be able to open her own Multi-Resource
Community Center, where
local residents may receive help
and support for any challenges
they have in life.
“Throughout my life, [my mission]
has become clearer and clearer,”
Shuman says. “My mom has
been a teacher for 31 years, so I’ve
been around kids for that long. I
want to help people.”
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