Shannon Costello has made it through obstacle after obstacle. But she’s never let one moment get in the way of earning a college degree.
Costello, a 37-year-old mom of three boys and an Ida, Michigan, resident, will finally achieve her goal at spring commencement on Saturday, May 6, as she walks the stage with her bachelor’s degree in physics and a concentration in applied physics.
CELEBRATING SUCCESS: UToledo recognizes the Class of 2023 with a series of stories featuring students receiving their degrees at spring commencement.
Costello’s story starts when she was just a child, the oldest of five sisters. Her mother had a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, and her father worked seven days a week to support the family.
In her sophomore year of high school, she had to run home to get her jersey before a soccer game after school. Her mother was in Houston for an MS awareness event and her dad was supposed to be at work — but his truck was in the driveway. Costello saw her father inside, hunched over and screaming in pain.
“I was the last person to see him conscious,” Costello said, “A week later, my mom had to make the decision to take him off life support. His cause of death was officially listed as a brain aneurysm.”
Three years later, Costello’s mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. At 29 years old, Costello herself was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Two months after her cancer diagnosis, she received news that she was genetically at a higher risk for 12 different cancers, reoccurrence of colon cancer, at risk of a secondary cancer and would need screenings every year for the rest of her life.
“I then instantly let all relevant family members know, stating that being tested is a very personal decision, but I would strongly encourage it,” Costello said. “I had an uncle who never responded.”
Her uncle was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer just a month later and passed away four months after that.
On Mother’s Day in 2016, a month after her uncle had passed, Costello was preparing to give a sermon at church on how her faith has helped her through all her struggles. As she was practicing her sermon before leaving, her mother’s friend gave her a call.
Costello’s mother had passed away in the night. It had been only eight months since Costello was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“It was a cruel, cruel situation to endure,” Costello said. “As everyone else was specifically celebrating their moms, my sisters and I were desperately grieving for ours.
“And even now, going on seven years later, her passing comes up twice a year — on May 8, when she passed and then again on whatever date Mother’s Day falls.”
Costello’s grieving then turned into advocating — she decided to dive into raising awareness for colon cancer. Since 2016, she has given talks, contributed to websites and media and shared the importance of never dismissing colorectal cancer because of age.
“Most of us in the colorectal cancer advocacy space can agree on one notion — if any one of our stories can help others, then the suffering endured is worth it because there will ultimately be a positive outcome from it all,” Costello said.
She decided to take her personal experience and advocacy one step further and accomplish her goal of a college degree and become a medical physicist in radiation oncology.
Shannon Costello, who was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic when she was 6 years old, poses with her insulin pump. Because of her diabetes, numbers became a focal point in her life, which inspired her to major in physics. Photo courtesy of Colon Club organization.
“I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic when I was 6 years old and as a result, numbers became the center of my life and, consequently, mathematics,” Costello said. “As I got older, I still aspired to be a physicist.”
Costello decided to enroll in Monroe County Community College. In her engineering physics class, a professor told her about the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at UToledo. She applied and was accepted, then spent 40 hours a week during the summer of 2021 at the Dana Cancer Center at The University of Toledo Medical Center in the medical physics department.
“Not only did it solidify what I wanted to do, it showed me a path of how to get there and it made me fall in love with UToledo,” Costello said. “I knew at that point that I belonged in UToledo. I transferred for fall 2021 semester.”
As a Rocket, Costello has been heavily involved in undergraduate research in UToledo’s Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization and has contributed to posters and abstracts for conferences and symposiums.
Adam Phillips, a research professor in physics, has seen firsthand Costello’s determination to learn how she can help others like herself.
“When she is over here in the lab, she is completely committed to research, to learning how to do things and to understanding the how’s and why’s.
“While no one wishes cancer on anyone, having Shannon involved in radiation treatments — someone who knows the physical, mental and emotional tolls that this disease demands — will let the patients know that there is someone that wants to help them get better from a very personal level.”
Now that she is wrapping up her undergraduate degree, Costello is ready for what’s next — continuing to a master’s program, two years of residency and a goal of becoming a board-certified practicing medical physicist in radiation oncology. But she’s not stopping there.
“I always dreamed of doing something like this,” Costello said. “But especially when I was younger, I thought it would be something I would never be able to do with how overwhelming life was.
“The path I had to live to get here was hard, but I have always been focused on making something positive and it took me a while to figure out how. I am here now, trying to tip the scales of life back a little, taking what I have learned and applying it to help as many people as I can in any capacity.”
