Our Story

Cleveland and Patrice Shuler met in Aug 2008 while both were deployed to Iraq. They were drawn to each other through our love of sports and motorcycles. After the nine-month deployment they returned to Fort Polk, LA for roughly four months before Patrice was transferred to Fort Bragg, NC. Three months later Cleveland was transferred to Tampa, FL but they continued to date while traveling back and forth monthly. Knowing that they didn’t want to be separate any longer Cleve and Patrice were married in June of 2010 combining their modern day Brady bunch consisting of two daughters each of them had from previous relationships. Even though they married in June the military didn’t allow them to be stationed together at Fort Bragg until October 2010.
In Aug 2012 they welcomed a new daughter to their family. Kelly, Deja, NaThya, Shannon and Chloe made up their family. In Dec 2013 The Shuler’s were relocated to Hawaii. Always wanting to have a son they attempted once again but they were nervous they’d have another daughter.
Feb 8, 2015 was a day that the Shuler’s will never forget. After only a month of trying they were pregnant. They were shocked considering it took almost a year for them to get pregnant with Chloe. They wanted to wait until the second trimester to tell friends and family about the good news.
Because of Patrice being 36 she was advised to undergo tests and ultrasounds not typically given to younger mothers. Not thinking much about it they agreed and at 12 weeks went for the first ultrasound. As you can imagine it was a very exciting time because this would’ve been the first time seeing their baby. During the ultrasound the technician saw some unusual signs and called in the doctor. Once the doctor came in he recommended a blood test called a NIPT to rule out whether out not the baby had Down Syndrome. The doctor attempted to comfort the Shuler’s but the news left them felling numb. For three days they were left with their thoughts and prayed that the results would be negative.
While attending a military ceremony Patrice’s phone rang. She froze realizing the number was form the doctor’s office. The phone call would change their life forever. It was the doctor calling to say that the results came back positive for the baby having Down Syndrome. The doctor recommended having another test to get a second opinion. Not wanting to believe the results they agreed and continued to pray that the results would come back negative. On April 30th 2014 the results came positive and they were devastated. They were asked did they want to know the sex of the baby and they declined. They went back and forth on whether or not they should terminate the pregnancy. During this time they found out that they the baby they had been blessed with was a boy. This only complicated things more.
Finally accepting the results they posted on social media that baby Derrius would be in in Oct 2015. An anatomy scan was done on June 1st to ensure that Derrius was growing and all his organs were forming correctly. The tech noticed that his heart looked different and they were referred to a cardiologist. Two weeks later they had the appointment with the cardiologist and was told that Derrius had an atrioventricular sepal defect, which is two holes in his heart. There was nothing to be alarmed about but he’d have to have surgery within four to six months after he was born. The only thing was they would have to fly to San Diego to have the surgery.
The pregnancy went along without incident. On Oct 15, 2015 Derrius Anthony was born. He was just perfect. He weight 8lb and 11oz and was 21in long. At that moment they realized that all the stress and worry was for nothing. There was absolutely nothing scary about the little face that gazed back at them.