Loss Leads Alumna to Found Wyatt’s Warriors
As a student, Jennifer Mercer Shipe ’05 had her life all planned out.
She knew exactly what she wanted to do: go to Salisbury University, become a teacher, marry her boyfriend and have a family.
At first, everything went according to plan. After graduating from SU with her degrees in early childhood and elementary education, she became a teacher at Snow Hill Middle School. She and her husband Brian, together since they were 15 years old, had two wonderful children and were expecting a third.
His name was Wyatt.
“Wyatt completely changed our world,” Shipe said.
Shipe went to TidalHealth for a planned C-section on July 8, 2015. All of her prenatal care suggested she would be giving birth to a healthy baby boy. However, not everything went according to plan.
Wyatt was diagnosed with transposition of the greater arteries and was sent to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. It was an experience Shipe was completely unprepared for.
“You see all the happy stories on Facebook of people having healthy babies and think, ‘It’s not fair. Everyone else gets to take their baby home,’” Shipe said.
At the time, one of Shipe’s friends and a fellow SU alum sent her a care package to help with the unexpected hospital stays. It was then she thought that other families in her situation could also use care packages to help ease a burden during a difficult and unexpected time.
Wyatt underwent open heart surgery, but there were complications. While his heart was fixed, those complications caused an infection, and he passed away on August 21, 2015.
The loss was indescribable, and to this day, Shipe still can’t understand why it had to happen. But Wyatt’s presence in her life opened her eyes to a need in the world she didn’t even realize was there before.
“Unfortunately, easy births simply don’t happen for a lot of families,” Shipe said. “There’s a whole community of children and families who need support, comfort and encouragement.”
After losing her son, Shipe put all of her time and energy into creating the Wyatt’s Warriors Foundation, to honor his memory and to help area families who may be going through similar circumstances. What started as a goal to provide care packages to local families who must leave the Eastern Shore for infant care at larger, specialized hospitals has since grown into something much bigger. The nonprofit also raises funds to support research and education for congenital heart defects and provides funds and support to local families who may need money for hospital bills, travel and other expenses.
“We don’t want them to have to worry about the little things, when they should be worrying about much bigger things,” Shipe said. “It’s amazing that we can provide that need. It’s a great feeling to be able to do that.”
Although she never anticipated being the president of a nonprofit foundation, her life experiences have prepared her for this calling. Throughout it all, Shipe has been grateful for the support of the greater Salisbury community. The foundation’s board is comprised of many SU alumni, area businesses often support the foundation’s events, and the annual fundraiser hosted on Wyatt’s birthday always surpasses its goal.
The foundation is able to further give back to the community, too. Wyatt’s Warriors regularly partners with area schools, including Bennett Middle School’s Act of Kindness Program – something Shipe finds very rewarding, with her own background in education. Whatever the need in the community, her goal for the foundation is to step in wherever they can.
In recognition of her contributions to the community through the Wyatt’s Warriors Foundation, Shipe was awarded with the SU Alumni Association’s 2022 Service to Society Alumni Award.
“If you had told me as an SU student that I was going to run a nonprofit, that I would have a child born with a congenital heart defect and lose him, I would never have guessed it,” Shipe said. “A lot of things in life are out of our control, but since starting Wyatt’s Warriors, I can say I am truly blessed with the path my life has taken.”