Dream Shepherd was just 16 when she died from bone cancer in 2021, weeks before she was due to start her senior year at Ossining High School.
But she had already cast an influence at that early age, having turned her childhood struggle with sickle cell disease into a crusade for legislation to help others with similar experiences. New York enacted “Dream’s Law” in 2019 to ensure proper treatment for patients who need a central venous line — a chest catheter for medicine and fluids — after being discharged from the hospital.
Five years after her death, Dream continues to exert a pull in Albany on behalf of patients and their families.
State lawmakers and Dream’s mother, Diana Lemon, have renewed their push for another bill in Dream’s name, one to help ensure school administrators and teachers know about any dangerous medical conditions their students have. It originated in 2021 and had passed the Senate by the time Dream died — and four times since then — but has yet to come to a vote in the Assembly.
Dream Shepherd’s story
In an interview with the USA TODAY Network, Lemon recalled her daughter’s harrowing experience at age 5 that inspired the proposal. A perceptive kindergarten teacher knew something was off when she noticed the right-handed Dream was coloring with her left hand. She first sent Dream to the nurse and then insisted she go to the hospital by ambulance.
That was a life-saving decision because Dream was suffering a stroke.
“It was the event that awoke the advocate in me, because it taught me how quickly I could have lost my daughter,” she said.
The resulting Shepherd Patterson Notification Act is named partly for Dream’s teacher, Shiloh Patterson, and is sponsored today by state Sen. Pete Harckham and Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, both Westchester County Democrats. It would require doctors’ offices to give parents whose children are diagnosed with life-threatening conditions all the information they need to alert school personnel and start the support services their kids will need for their schooling.
“Then the onus is on the parent, but at least the information is provided to them,” Lemon said. “To me, this helps everyone that’s in the community of the child to be aware and support them.”
She recalled working on the bill with her daughter before her death, and said the continued quest to pass it was “about finishing what we started.”
New federal legislation named for Dream
In a meantime, a third piece of legislation named for her daughter was introduced in March, this time a federal bill in Washington. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Rockland County Republican whose district includes Ossining, proposed “Dream’s Caregiver Health and Wellness Act,” which would provide $250 million a year for nonprofits to support those caring for people who are elderly, disabled or chronically ill. The funds could pay for such things as meals, transportation or mental health treatment for caregivers.
Lemon joined Lawler to announce the bill at a May 7 press conference in Westchester County. It took place at the Ossining Community Garden of Dreams Legacy Center, a facility co-founded and run by Lemon to help people recover from grief and stress.
Dream Shepherd was born with an inherited blood disorder that leads to clogged vessels and causes pain and serious medical complications. She got a bone marrow transplant from her mother at age 10 to combat sickle cell disease and was doing well until she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone cancer that most often affects adolescents.
Dream was active in Girl Scouts and numerous fundraisers and events to help others with serious illnesses. In 2015, the state Senate named her a “woman of distinction” for her tireless efforts and the obstacles she had overcome at a young age.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester teen’s legacy lives on in bills to help others like her
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
