She attended Frostburg University in college, where she met her roomate and best friend, Erin Miller.  Erin was like a sister to her, growing close to Erin's mother Shelley, as well as Erin's late sister Kelsey.  They were truly her family away from home.  During Shannon's senior year of college, after leaving a long term relationship, she re-kindled her friendship with Joseph Hamilton.  That friendship quickly blossomed into a long-distance romance.  

Once school was over, she returned home, looking for work outside the field she had studied in college, which would enable her to one day have a family.  She found a long term job at T. Rowe Price in Owings Mills, MD.  While at T. Rowe Price, Shannon made many friends from her co-workers, which were friends that remained with her after those friends and herself had left their jobs.  In 2006, Shannon and Joseph were married, in a small ceremony at her parents' house.  Shortly after getting married, they moved from Hanover, PA to their final home in Westminster, MD.  Within a month of moving, they discovered they were pregnant with their first child.  Noah Hamilton was born in May 2008, and brought great joy to Shannon's life.  She wanted to be a mother so much, and was overjoyed to have a healthy baby boy to dote on.  In late 2010, she was overjoyed to discover she was pregnant again, and her daughter, Darcy Hamilton, was born in March 2011.

Shortly after Darcy's birth, the family was rocked when Shannon lost a great deal of weight in the aftermath of the birth.  After going through doctor's visits, tests, and a hospital stay, the family was devastated to learn that Shannon had Colorectal Cancer.  Her immediate thoughts were to surviving for her children.  She immediately began chemotherapy in an attempt to fight off this cancer.  After a few rounds of chemotherapy and successful surgery in November 2011, the family was upbeat that Shannon perhaps had beaten the cancer.  That joy was short-lived however, as spots in her lungs were discovered in December 2011.  It was from there that Shannon began a 3 year battle to try to buy herself as much time to see her young children grow up.

In those 3 years, Shannon did get to experience many things.  She went to Disney World in April 2012, thanks to a generous gift from both her parents and Joseph's parents, along with the rest of the family.  She was able to see Noah graduate from Pre-K and was there for the first day of Kindergarten for him.  She was able to plan and attend a week-long family adventure in Maine in Summer 2014, exploring the beautiful nature of Acadia National Park.  During these three years, her disease stayed mostly stable, though she dealt with 2 treatment changes, and some annoying setbacks and side-effects.

In late December 2014, Shannon developed a tough sinus infection, which unfortunately developed into pneumonia.  She was taken to the hospital on Christmas Eve 2014.  Despite tireless efforts to try to treat the pneumonia and return her to good health, her body was not able to survive the infection and she died on December 29, 2014, with Joseph by her bedside.  Her family was in the waiting room at the end, and was there to provide comfort and support.  As per her final wishes, Shannon was able to donate her body to scientific research through Anatomy Gifts Registry, as well as her cancer tissue from her surgery being donated to help further research against her Colon Cancer.

Shannon is survived by her husband Joseph Robert Hamilton, her children Noah William and Darcy Noelle Hamilton, her parents Danya Noelle and Joseph William Bryant, her siblings, Zachary Bryant, Michael and Ashley, grandparents Linda and Howard Bradley, and Colleen and Richard Brown, along with numerous Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces, and Nephews.

To see more pictures of Shannon, please visit here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcMWjJo5Ytmzlw