Linda Bertaso Shelton
Contributing Author
Linda Bertaso Shelton is a community connector, outreach professional, entrepreneur, daughter, wife, mother, and advocate who has built much of her life around helping people find support when they need it most.
Linda works as an Outreach Manager with Spero Health, where she connects individuals struggling with drug and alcohol addiction with treatment, resources, and support. Her work involves developing relationships throughout the community, collaborating with organizations and referral partners, and helping individuals and families understand that treatment and recovery are possible. For Linda, making the right connection at the right time can change the direction of someone’s life.
Linda is also an entrepreneur and operates her own jewelry business, Bling Queen Jewels, as a consultant for a popular jewelry organization. It is another reflection of something that comes naturally to Linda—connecting with people, building relationships, and bringing a little joy and sparkle into the lives of others.
But Linda’s contribution to Lifted, By My Girls! comes from a deeply personal place.
Her mother, Phyllis, was diagnosed with Stage IV triple-negative breast cancer in 2024 at the age of 81. The diagnosis came after an already difficult period for her family, during which Phyllis had suffered a serious fall, fractured her neck, undergone surgery, and was preparing for a heart valve replacement. A CT scan intended to evaluate her heart unexpectedly revealed a mass in her breast.
What followed changed Linda and her family forever.
Linda watched her mother move through chemotherapy with determination and hope. There were difficult treatments, setbacks, transfusions, hydration, and moments when the entire family tried desperately to keep Phyllis’s spirits lifted. There were also moments of pure joy—including a virtual Elvis performance arranged for Phyllis’s birthday that had her laughing, crying, and singing along.
On July 19, 2024, after completing her ninth and final chemotherapy treatment, Phyllis rang the bell. It was a moment the family believed represented the beginning of healing. Just weeks later, complications brought her back to the hospital, where her condition rapidly declined. Phyllis passed away peacefully on August 4, 2024.
Linda’s chapter, “Phyllis’ Journey – How Cancer Is a Family Affair,” shares not only her mother’s story but what happens to an entire family when someone they love is diagnosed. She writes candidly about the experience of being a daughter trying to help from another state, watching her father become a caregiver, grieving the loss of her mother, and then watching her father slowly learn how to build a life again after losing his wife of 57 years.
That experience also changed Linda’s relationship with her own health. Breast cancer prevention is now an important part of her life. She is under the care of a breast specialist, stays attentive to changes in her health, and encourages others not to postpone screenings or take good health for granted.
Linda also connects people affected by breast cancer with organizations that can provide practical and emotional support.
She shares the work of I Have Wings Breast Cancer Foundation, serving Northern Kentucky, Southwest Ohio, and Southeast Indiana. The organization provides emotional and financial support to breast cancer patients and their families. Its message, W.I.N.G.S. — “With Inspiration, No-one Goes Solo,” holds special meaning for Linda because she knows firsthand how important it is to have people beside you during a cancer journey.
Linda also connects families with Pink Ribbon Good, which supports people affected by breast and gynecological cancers by providing practical assistance including healthy meals, transportation to treatment, housecleaning essentials, and peer support.
Linda may not be the woman who received the breast cancer diagnosis, but her story belongs in this conversation.
She represents the daughters, spouses, children, caregivers, friends, and family members whose lives are forever changed when someone they love hears the words, “You have cancer.”
By sharing Phyllis’s journey, Linda hopes to honor the vibrant woman her mother was while reminding other families that their journey matters too.
And perhaps most importantly, she carries forward a lesson her family learned in the hardest possible way: cherish your people, prioritize your health, accept the support around you, and keep finding reasons to live fully—even after tremendous loss.
