In Charlotte’s Corner: Standing Together Through Her Fight With Pancreatic Cancer
In every town, there are quiet legends—people whose goodness leaves fingerprints on generations.
Charlotte Eshelman is one of them.
Born and raised in Boise, Charlotte is a third-generation Idahoan who built her life around service. As a nurse, midwife, and later a family nurse practitioner and physician assistant, she provided care in hospital rooms, rural clinics, and even living rooms. She founded and ran the Melba Family Medical Clinic, helped start clinics in Kuna, New Plymouth, and Jordan Valley, and made house calls to anyone who couldn’t come to her.
Her payment? Sometimes a handshake. Other times a basket of eggs, a truckload of hay, or a heartfelt “thank you.”
She didn’t do it for money. She did it for people.
Charlotte has cared for migrant workers, uninsured families, and anyone who fell through the cracks. She helped launch churches, fed families during the holidays, and traveled to Mexico to set up makeshift medical clinics for those in desperate need. She and her husband Kurt gave away nearly 20 cars—many to strangers—just to help them move forward.
At an age when most slow down, Charlotte kept going. In her 70s, she returned to school to earn her master’s degree so she could teach the next generation of nurses, passing on not just medical knowledge but compassion, empathy, and ethics.
Today, this lifelong caregiver is facing a disease that doesn’t care how much you’ve given.
Charlotte has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, a fast-moving and aggressive illness. It often goes unnoticed until it’s in advanced stages, and by the time it's discovered, options are limited. Doctors have given her just 2 to 4 months.
And now, after a lifetime of giving, it’s our chance to give back.
Charlotte and Kurt have spent their lives helping others—often at great personal cost. They emptied their retirement savings to build a church. They’ve never turned someone away. But with limited financial reserves, the burden of end-of-life costs and basic needs now falls on a family that’s already facing heartbreak.
We’re asking our community—our Good Network—to step in.
Let’s raise enough to ensure Charlotte’s final weeks are filled with comfort, dignity, and peace. Let’s help her husband Kurt breathe a little easier, knowing funeral costs and life after loss are supported by the very people they’ve loved and served for decades.
Give if you can. Share if you will. Stand with Charlotte, like she has stood with so many.
Because broadcasting what matters means showing up when it counts the most.
