Monroeville mom gets full university scholarship through caregiver assistance program

Monroeville caregiver Lisa Shaw got a second chance at love and, now, a chance at a second career with help from a university assistance program.

Shaw and her husband, Coban, both had previous relationships before reconnecting in 2016.

“He is just such a sweetheart,” Shaw said. “I’ve been in abusive relationships in the past, and he is the most loving, caring amazing communicator that I’ve met. It just boggles my mind that even after everything he’s been through that he still manages to be an exemplary human.”

Coban is an Iraq war veteran who suffers from brain trauma. Shaw grew up as Lisa Waste in San Diego and endured hardship along her journey to becoming an internationally certified nanny, a preschool teacher and currently a student studying to become a therapist.

“I actually had a very hard childhood,” said Shaw, 35. “I grew in the foster care system and was adopted into a fundamentalist Christian abusive home. I’ve had to recover from that all on my own, and had to do my own therapeutic journey and figure out how to be an adult. I would like to give back to other people and help children to recover what I went through.”

Shaw was recently awarded a Pillars of Strength Scholarship to attend the University of Maryland Global Campus.

The scholarships are designed to help volunteer caregivers, usually spouses of service members.

“Pillars of Strength is truly a marquee program for UMGC,” said President Gregory Fowler. “It continues our long tradition of service to the military and aligns precisely with our goal of bringing education within reach for underserved populations, thus improving lives and strengthening communities around the world. We are so proud of Lisa and the rest of this year’s recipients, so grateful for their service to injured and wounded military personnel, and so pleased to be able to support them as they work to overcome the challenges ahead and improve their own lives and the lives of those they love.”

Shaw had dropped out of college when her son, Andy, was born. Most of her professional life was spent as a nanny and an administrative assistant.

They moved to Pennsylvania to create a family with Coban and his two children, Serraphine and Kaelan.

“I never would have come to Pittsburgh if it wasn’t for him,” Shaw said. “I didn’t realize how much I was missing just having trees and flowers and so much beauty around me. I grew up in San Diego and was used to the dessert climate. It’s a very bleak landscape.”

She was inspired to get a nursing degree, but things have changed.

“My husband’s condition has worsened in the last year or so, so I’m thinking I need something that’s going to be more plausible as far as staying at home. With lactation consulting you have to go to the patients’ homes, and I think I need to be staying at home more. So, I think I’m going to pursue my other interest, which is psychological therapy that focuses on healing trauma, like a family children’s counselor.”

Coban was married to a previous spouse when he was deployed to Iraq in 2006 during President George W. Bush’s surge aimed at turning the war around. As a combat engineer, he was assigned to go from village to village, securing them. That meant dismantling or blowing up any explosives left behind by the enemy. He was traveling in an armored vehicle when an IED exploded. The blast threw him from the vehicle.

Shaw said Coban was not sent to a military hospital immediately because he did not show any visible wounds.

“He walked out of it,” Shaw said. “They just sent him right out into the field again, which was ridiculous. He wasn’t flown to a hospital or anything.”

He began to exhibit strange behavior, such as heading out with his gun and no ammunition.

Shaw said his brain injury went undetected until he was back in the United States and went through a thorough medical examination.

Coban and his wife at the time eventually split and now co-parent their two children, Shaw said.

Coban has post-traumatic stress disorder as well as lung damage from exposure to burn pits where the military incinerated often-toxic materials. He also suffers from temporary periodic paralysis, a condition that can leave him immobile from the neck down.

The paralysis comes from a preexisting genetic condition that was not triggered until serving in Iraq, Shaw said.

It is called hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. Coban’s body has malfunctioning sodium ducts and flushes a lot of potassium into his bloodstream.

Shaw said they never know when his disabilities will worsen, and she is determined to create good family memories for the children.

She was one of a dozen scholarship recipients this year.

“We are once again pleased that we have been able to expand the Pillars program even further with 12 more full scholarships to our great recipients,” said Richard F. Blewitt, founder and CEO of The Blewitt Foundation, which established the Pillars of Strength program in association with UMGC. “We are proud to remain the only program of its type providing full scholarships to the caregivers of our military heroes.”

University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly University of Maryland University College) is a world leader in innovative educational models, with award-winning online programs in disciplines including biotechnology, cybersecurity, data analytics and information technology that are in high demand in today’s increasingly technical, global workplace.

With an enrollment of some 90,000 students, UMGC offers open access with a global footprint and a specific mission — to meet the learning needs of students whose responsibilities may include jobs, family and military service. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, including doctoral programs.