SHADE Foundation

Shonda Schilling and SHADE® Foundation of America

Shonda Schilling — Founder of the SHADE Foundation (Download Shonda’s story as a PDF)

In February of 2001, at the age of 33, Shonda was diag­nosed with stage 2 malig­nant melanoma. A total of 5 surg­eries left 25 scars criss­cross­ing her back, arms, legs and chest. Shonda and her fam­ily were liv­ing in Arizona at the time and they imme­di­ately adopted respon­si­ble sun habits into their daily routines.

In October 2001 Shonda’s hus­band, Curt Schilling, won the World Series co-MVP honor for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The media quickly picked up on her skin can­cer diag­no­sis. Her story was fea­tured in People Magazine, Glamour, Family Circle, Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping and on ABC’s “The View.” Shonda invited Good Morning America and the nation into the oper­at­ing room to wit­ness her fifth surgery, hop­ing her sun-safety mes­sage might inspire oth­ers to get their skin checked and alter their sun habits.

Shonda’s per­sonal expe­ri­ence with melanoma and the over­whelm­ing responses she received from oth­ers afflicted by skin can­cer lead to the estab­lish­ment of SHADE Foundation of America in 2002.

In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency teamed up with The SHADE Foundation to pro­mote SunWise, a sun-safety cur­ricu­lum for schools. The launch of this part­ner­ship was heard by 20 mil­lion peo­ple through media expo­sure. Hundreds of school prin­ci­pals across the coun­try signed up to teach the SunWise pro­gram in their class­rooms. The part­ner­ship earned Shonda and The SHADE Foundation the “Excellence in Cancer Awareness” award from the Congressional Families Program of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation in Washington, DC.

Shonda also launched SHADE’s first annual National Poster Contest in con­junc­tion with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Arizona Department of Health. Thousands of school chil­dren learned sun-safety by draw­ing a SunWise poster for the con­test. That same year, Shonda was awarded the Girl Scout World of Humanity Award by the Arizona Cactus– Pine Girl Scout Council. In her honor they lunched the SHADE Badge for scouts to earn.

In 2004, SHADE’s east coast pres­ence became known when Shonda moved to Boston, MA as her hus­band began pitch­ing with the Boston Red Sox. Shonda part­nered SHADE with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to launch the SHADE Prevention Initiative in MA. She was rec­og­nized nation­ally with the Speaker Thomas J. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. Award for Public Service by the Greater Boston Federal Executive Board. Shonda teamed up SHADE Foundation with the Boston Red Sox to begin the SunWise Poster Contest in Massachusetts, which again resulted in over­whelm­ing suc­cess. Thousands of stu­dents entered the con­test and learned skin can­cer pre­ven­tion tech­niques. The American Academy of Dermatology rec­og­nized Shonda’s aware­ness efforts with an indi­vid­ual achieve­ment Gold Triangle Award. She was given the Alumni of the Year Award from Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and received the Outstanding Fundraiser Award by the Association of Professional Fundraisers.

In 2005, Shonda ran the PF Chang’s Rock N Roll Marathon and the Boston Marathon rais­ing $150,000 for The Shade Foundation. Shonda gra­ciously accepted an hon­orary doc­tor­ate degree in pub­lic ser­vice from Framingham State College. She was awarded the excep­tional women’s award for com­mu­nity ser­vice by Boston radio sta­tion Magic 106.7. Shonda tes­ti­fied before the Arizona state leg­is­la­tures in an effort to help pass the cur­rent law requir­ing schools to teach the SunWise cur­ricu­lum in the state of Arizona. Shonda and her fam­ily appeared in a pub­lic ser­vice print adver­tise­ment pro­mot­ing sun-safety in Sports Illustrated’s pop­u­lar swim­suit issue and in a tele­vi­sion PSA that aired in New England and around the country.

In 2006, Shonda fin­ished her 2^nd Boston Marathon on behalf of the SHADE Foundation. She received an hon­orary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Merrimack College and was given the Lady Baden Powell Good Scout Award by the Boston Minuteman Council. Shonda con­tin­ued the Play It Smart When It Comes to the Sun pro­gram with MLB and reached mil­lions of Americans with her sun safety mes­sage dur­ing media appear­ances with Geraldo At Large, Women’s World Magazine among other local chan­nels across the country.

Most recently Shonda received the 2009 EPA Ozone Layer Protection Award.

Shonda con­tin­ues to be involved in SHADE and spread her pas­sion for skin can­cer aware­ness and sun safety. She com­pleted the 2009 Chicago Marathon for team SHADE and con­tin­ues to appear at SHADE func­tions and events.

Shonda’s Personal Life

Shonda Michelle Brewer grew up in Maryland and grad­u­ated from Towson State College major­ing in jour­nal­ism. She worked in tele­vi­sion pro­duc­tion for Home Team Sports in Baltimore until mar­ry­ing Curt Schilling in 1992. They have four chil­dren: Gehrig, (5/27/95), Gabriella, (5/22/97), Grant, (10/13/99) and Garrison, (6/27/02). The fam­ily resides in Medfield, MA.

Don and Patsy Brewer

Shonda’s par­ents, Patsy and Don Brewer, have been inte­gral con­trib­u­tors to the suc­cess of SHADE. In addi­tion to pro­vid­ing Shonda and Curt with the irre­place­able sup­port that only par­ents are capa­ble of, they serve SHADE in a pro­fes­sional capac­ity as active mem­bers of the Board of Directors.

Patsy Brewer cur­rently serves on the Board of Directors for SHADE. Patsy began her career in the cos­me­tol­ogy field in 1965. She trav­eled with her mil­i­tary hus­band until 1970, after which she was able to stay home to raise their two chil­dren for the next twenty-five years. She returned to col­lege with her youngest child, tak­ing com­puter courses and oth­ers she felt would be valu­able to reen­ter the work force.

Patsy’s vol­un­teer com­puter pro­gram­ming work led to an eleven-year job with the Baltimore County Government, from which she resigned in 2000 to travel the coun­try assist­ing her daugh­ter and her family.

Donald W. Brewer cur­rently serves on the Board of Directors for SHADE. Don is also cur­rently the most senior game tester at 38 Studios. With mul­ti­ple careers that span forty years and range from the mil­i­tary and engi­neer­ing to entre­pre­neur­ial pur­suits, includ­ing a mass tran­sit spe­cialty with the Department of Traffic Engineering for the Baltimore County Government, Don brings a wealth of knowl­edge and experience.

Don also is the per­sonal rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Schilling fam­ily and over­sees mul­ti­ple aspects of their lives, includ­ing char­ity ser­vices, fan mail, and hous­ing. Don attended Essex Community College in busi­ness and finance.