A New England Patriots superfan died weeks after she was gifted tickets by owner Robert Kraft to watch her beloved team in this year’s Super Bowl.
Shelly Sepulveda, 42, died Monday following a two-year battle with ovarian cancer, hours after the Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos and clinched a spot in Super Bowl LX, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support her family.
“Shelly was deeply loved, and her loss has left an unimaginable hole in her family and in everyone who knew her,” the GoFundMe page said.
“Her passing was unexpected, and the financial burden has added so much stress to an already devastating loss.”
Sepulveda, a mother of six, was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in 2024, Boston 25 reported.
On Jan. 11, Kraft gifted the former NICU nurse — who had undergone chemotherapy the week before — tickets to Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara, California, on the field at Gillette Stadium following New England’s Wild Card playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Moments before receiving the tickets, Sepulveda told Kraft that her love for the organization had helped her endure some of the most difficult moments of her illness.
“When I’m here I don’t think about cancer, I watch the Patriots,” she told Kraft in a video posted on the Patriots X account.
Sepulveda fought back tears of joy as Kraft presented the tickets on behalf of himself and his wife, Dana Kraft.
“That means so much to me,” she said as she gently held his hand, adding that she has been battling cancer for the past two years.
Sepulveda was hospitalized days later, on Jan. 17, with “low blood counts,” her wife, Tami Sepulveda, shared on Facebook.
Tami Sepulveda wrote Monday that Sepulveda “tried as hard as she could to stay here, she is a fighter and now our angel watching down on us.”
“I’m just numb from pain it’s so hard, but I know how much she was loved! She was truly the best wife and mother and friend we will miss her so so very much,” Tami Sepulveda wrote. “Rest in peace now Shelly, I Love you.”
During their more than 23 years together, the couple fostered more than 20 children whose parents were battling substance abuse. The couple adopted five children and also shared a biological son.
Before her death, Sepulveda described her illness as a “constant battle.”
“It is survivorship and fighting for my life,” Sepulveda told Boston 25 last year. “There’s a lot of people going through cancer that don’t have the support. And I do, and I’m lucky. I’m lucky I have the friends and family I have.”
Sepulveda said her children were her motivation to keep fighting.
“I’m not a quitter, and I don’t want my kids to think I’m a quitter,” she said. “But I want them to know it’s also okay for them to ask for help.”
Since its launch in December 2024, the GoFundMe to support her family has raised more than $34,000 as of Wednesday morning.
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