ABOUT

The Sherri Little Foundation, Inc. was formed in March 2017 to honor Sherri’s dream of helping chronic pain patients get the help they need. We provide micro-grants of $1,000 or less to chronic pain patients with limited support and resources. These grants may be used for travel to see specialists, medical equipment, alternative therapies, treatments, and other expenses insurance doesn’t cover.
At this time, the Sherri Little Foundation, Inc. can only provide grants to patients in our home state, but we hope to open up to more areas in the future.
ABOUT

The Sherri Little Foundation, Inc. was formed in March 2017 to honor Sherri’s dream of helping chronic pain patients get the help they need. We provide micro-grants of $1,000 or less to chronic pain patients with limited support and resources. These grants may be used for travel to see specialists, medical equipment, alternative therapies, treatments, and other expenses insurance doesn’t cover.
At this time, the Sherri Little Foundation, Inc. can only provide grants to patients in our home state, but we hope to open up to more areas in the future.
Remembering Sherri L. Little
December 5, 1961—July 7, 2015
Written by our Founder, Tami Stackelhouse
I had the privilege of working with Sherri as her coach for the two months prior to her passing. We talked often of her desire to change the way pain patients are treated through telling her story. She made it clear to me that she wanted her story told, even if she wasn’t here to tell it herself, and gave me permission to share this with you. Sherri also traveled to Toronto, Canada, to be interviewed by Tina Petrova with Give Pain a Voice, who told Sherri’s story in the documentary Pain Warriors.
During the two months Sherri and I worked together, we tried to find Sherri medical treatment for her Clostridium difficile infection. This proved to be an essentially impossible task. Sherri called numerous doctors all over the country.

Even though she offered to pay cash, no doctor would accept her as a patient because she didn’t have the right insurance. Eventually, we were able to get her insurance changed on July 1, 2015, but it was too late to be truly helpful. (C. diff is a bacteria that can cause life-threatening inflammation of the colon, fever, nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. You can read more about C. diff here.)
While I was working with her, Sherri was unable to eat solid food, and survived on juice delivered to her home. Even the juice was hard to keep down, with all of the nausea and chronic diarrhea, which lead to Sherri becoming severely dehydrated. Sherri likely lost 20-30 pounds over the last year of her life due to being unable to eat and absorb nutrition.
On Friday afternoon, July 3, I received a voice mail message from Sherri saying that she was going to the ER at Cedar Sinai Hospital due to her dehydration. That was the last time I would ever hear from her. She passed away just a few days later. Lynda Mannion, Sherri’s mother, struggled for months to obtain copies of the coroner’s report to find out exactly what happened. Although Sherri died in July 2015, Lynda did not receive the report on Sherri’s death until early 2016.
The coroner states that Sherri’s death was a suicide due to “combined effects of medications.” However, I can say with 100% confidence that we cannot blame Sherri’s death on medications.
We talked many times about her pain, life, and death. It makes me angry to think that Sherri’s death might become a statistic used to deny chronic pain patients medication that could make their lives bearable. There are a lot of questions surrounding Sherri’s death, but for me there is no question about why she died. Sherri died because her pain wasn’t controlled or illnesses treated properly.
If Sherri’s death can teach us anything it’s this:
untreated pain kills.
I feel fortunate that I came to know the vibrant, passionate, and deeply caring woman behind the face of Sherri’s pain. Most people didn’t get to meet that Sherri. We talked often about how hard it was for her to make friends as a chronic pain patient. She struggled to get the support she needed for even the simplest things, like getting groceries or going to a doctor appointment. It was her dream to set up a foundation which could provide this kind of support to other pain patients.

"Sherri sparkled in certain situations, when she was understood and validated as a human.” says Rachael Perrin. “She and I spoke for many hours. She so wanted to create a refuge for others who hurt".
"I am frantically trying to save my life while also making plans for my possible death"...
In the days before she died, I received an email from Sherri asking if I would be willing to administer a nonprofit in the event of her death. In that email she said, “I am frantically trying to save my life while also making plans for my possible death.” She went on to say that this nonprofit would provide “those who suffer horrible pain—without family or other loved one(s) support—with small grants to see them through hard times.” The Sherri Little Foundation, Inc. is the organization she dreamed of.
When Sherri died, she still had coaching sessions she had paid for, but would never use. I used these sessions to establish the Sherri Little Fibromyalgia Coaching Scholarship to provide qualified fibromyalgia patients sessions with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach℠ or Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor℠, giving them the support that Sherri wanted for all pain patients. Graduates of the International Fibromyalgia Coaching Institute, LLC have continued to donate their time and resources to further this scholarship program. Since its inception, we have worked with fibromyalgia patients all over the world.
Other Remembrances
“[I remember Sherri] dancing down the hill at the conference center, when no one was watching, to her knowledge. She communed with nature and wished for deeper connection with others. As a pain patient, it was difficult… Her memory will stay with me as I dance and struggle through my own life!”
Rachel Perrin
2014 Leaders Against Pain attendee
“I found Sherri so kind spirited and willing to reach out. I remember talking with her and she seemed able to tune right into what I was trying to express. And so there was such a feeling of a kindred spirit within that short time.”
Kathy Ott
2014 Leaders Against Pain attendee
Final Note from Tami
My first real memory of Sherri was during the second night of the 2014 Leaders Against Pain Scholarship Training Program. That morning, we received the news that one of our members needed to leave early due to an unexpected death in the family. All day, the mood was heavy. That evening, we planned a spontaneous support group meeting. We shared. We cried. But the highlight of the evening was Sherri leading us in laughter yoga. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard in my life! Sherri had us pretending to be animals, made us laugh hysterically, and changed the mood of the entire conference from one of despair to one of hope. One of the exercises she had us do included a chant of, “Very good! Very good! Yay!”
People like Sherri are the reason that I do what I do. We must be advocates for those who don’t have the strength, support, or resources to speak for themselves. We can honor Sherri and her struggle by telling her story and helping others. Through her, we can put an actual face and name to the struggle to find life in the midst of chronic pain.
My prayer is that Sherri will see the good that comes from her death and, just like she taught us in that laughter yoga session, clap her hands and say, “Very good! Very good! Yay!”