Keira Shasta Angela Brownfield

Keira was born in Red Bluff on February 23, 2010. Although her life was much too short, it was an adventure she lived to the fullest. Keira was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in March of 2025. After 40 weeks of chemotherapy, her scans showed no active cancer cells. But within a couple of weeks, the cancer came back aggressively. Keira passed away on May 22, 2026. She died on her own terms, at home with her family and animals. She went outside to see her horse just 36 hours before she died and her dog Rain was on her bed with her when she left us.

Keira had an idyllic and adventurous childhood. She was fortunate enough to travel to Nevada and Oregon, Ireland and Mexico, but Gerber has always been her home, with her horses right there in the back field to take out on rides to the creek or river. At 10 years old, she was blessed with her amazing friend and mentor Julie, who lived just down the road and was always taking her horse camping, on trail rides and moonlight rides, even riding on the beach, and spoiling her with all things related to horses!

Frequent adventures defined Keira’s childhood. Recently, a friend of Keira expressed surprise at Keira’s unfamiliarity with Disney princess movies, saying “Those were my childhood.” Keira replied, “My childhood was creeks.” Especially during summer, but at all times of the year, her family went on “adventures” - hiking, swimming, fishing, camping, so there were lots of creeks! As Keira exclaimed when she was little and running across the backyard, “I LOVE outside!” She climbed Castle Crags, a 6-mile hike with a 2200-foot elevation gain, at age 6. She climbed Brokeoff Peak, a 7.3-mile hike with a 2500 foot elevation gain, at age 8. She climbed Brokeoff Peak, Chaos Craggs and the Lassen Cinder Cone all in one week at age 13.

All her life, Keira was surrounded by an amazing community of people who loved her, especially her family. Her Nana threw frequent fancy Irish tea parties for her, cousin Christine did craft days with Keira and Mara, and hosted pool parties for Keira’s birthday. And of course, every Sunday was family Sunday. After Papa’s pancakes at home, she had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s with all of Curtis’s family and then dinner at Nana and Pa’s with Mara’s family. Although she was an only child, Keira saw her three cousins every Sunday and always looked forward to hanging out with “The Cousins,” and how loud and chaotic that could get! For the past year and a half, she had a new cousin, baby Leo, and although she had no interest in babies whatsoever before Leo, she and Leo had an instant special bond. When she knew her cancer wasn’t going to go away, she said she was very sad that she wouldn't get to be a part of Leo’s life and watch him grow up.

When Keira was 4 years old she saw a photo of Mara with Jane Goodall and wanted to know who that lady was. Mara’s explanation of all that Jane Goodall has done to make the world a better place inspired Keira. Keira said, “I want to help the animals too.” That was the beginning of many projects, donations, and volunteering that continued throughout her life. That was Keira - always thinking of others, both humans and animals.

Keira loved animals! In her 16 years, she cared for 37 pets and rescued and rehomed countless other animals. Keira spent a lot of time as a little girl sitting in the front yard with binoculars, watching for Mara to get back from a run, hoping she would have found yet another abandoned kitten. As a young child, Keira wanted to grow up to be a wildlife rehabilitator. She made a good start on that career. There was Ripple the squirrel that fell out of his nest and was successfully raised and released back into the oak tree he came from. There was Henry the African crested crane who mysteriously showed up in the horse field and, after weeks of feeding, was finally captured and transferred to Safari West in Santa Rosa where he is still living happily with a flock of his own kind. And there was Savannah the giant African monitor lizard that Uncle Finn found crossing the road one summer day. Keira cared for Savannah daily for several weeks before her owner was located. Savannah was in Keira’s bedtime prayers for years afterwards. Keira just wasn’t sure that Savannah’s owner would take as good of care of her as Keira had. And of course, there were all the honeybees that Keira saved from drowning in the fountain pool at Nana and Pa’s place.

But horses were Keira’s true love. She rode the family horse, Buck, before she could walk. Keira had seven horses in her lifetime. She aspired to be a horse trainer since age 10. She wanted to rescue neglected race horses and retrain them so that they could be re-homed and lead their best possible life. She achieved her goal with her two most recent horses, which were rescued thoroughbred racehorses. Keira spent most of her time deliberating on how to make them more relaxed and comfortable, in addition to educating others on horse welfare in general. She considered the horses her responsibility and she took that responsibility very seriously.

Keira was home schooled through Lincoln Street School in Red Bluff where Mr. Aaron Peterson was her supervising teacher from kindergarten all the way through 8th grade. Although Mara was her at-home teacher, Keira really took over the whole school thing completely after about the 4th grade and just instructed herself. She was very responsible and was always all caught up or usually ahead on her school work. She was a straight “A” student and people often commented on her intelligence. When Keira started home school high school at Evergreen, she took an in-person algebra class and the teacher, Ms. Mezzei (MUH -ZAY), wanted to know where she had learned such excellent math skills. Well, most of that math talent was self-taught. At age 7, when Keira first learned to add two-digit numbers and carry into the next column, Mara found her entertaining herself by making up and adding bigger numbers until her sum was over 4 million.

Keira was always thinking of others, looking for ways to help her parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, and fellow students. She assisted at home with laundry, cooking, cleaning and repairs, helped remodel their new home, and diligently did not only her own chores but often her parents’ as well, without being asked. Favorite memories of Curtis’ are Keira helping him install a faucet, repair a car door, and work on vehicles. Mara really appreciated Keira’s love of baking, especially when she made chocolate croissants!

Keira was a motivated and self-disciplined girl. At age 8, she ran a 5K in 32 minutes. She earned her blue belt in martial arts at age 7. At age 4, using money raised selling handmade greeting cards, she donated $50 to the Jane Goodall Foundation “to help the animals.” In later years, she made several donations to the Jane Goodall Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature with money saved from selling her chickens’ eggs. She also raised and donated $200 to Shasta Wildlife Rescue.

At age 11, Keira began planting milkweed to help threatened monarch butterfly populations. She received two grants from Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots organization supporting this project, and spread the word on the issue by making an educational poster and distributing milkweed seeds at her school. The same year, she spent the summer writing letters to local land-owner businesses and organizations to suggest they plant milkweed on their properties, and adopt other animal friendly practices. Also that year, she and Mara and Finn built and installed 19 bluebird boxes to help the declining native Western Bluebird population. On a bike ride with her parents, she decided she wanted to pick up litter along the road, and, over the years, did several litter collection days on her street with her parents and uncle. Keira and her achievements have been featured multiple times in North State Parent magazine.

Keira always wanted to accomplish something with each day. That was one of the hardest things for her in her final days, not being able to accomplish much. And yet, she got out to her horses most days, either leaning on her parents or riding the electric scooter Julie loaned her. Keira reorganized her horse tack shed about a week before she passed away. Even recently, when she needed oxygen constantly, she was determined to try to keep her strength up and did her leg-lift exercises (a lot of them!) every day.

Keira had a maturity and wisdom beyond her years. She never complained about being sick, and worried about those who were concerned about her. When Mara told her that she wished she could take her cancer away, Keira said, “No, no, I’m glad I have it, I wouldn’t want anybody else to have it.”

She told Mara and Curtis that they were not allowed to ”mope around” after she was gone. She took each day she was given and made the most of it, and wanted those she left behind to do the same. Her life was a wonderful adventure. Now she is gone on a new, eternal adventure, one that she was ready and happy to head off into. In her final hours, as she was holding Curtis and Mara’s hands, she repeatedly said, “Come on, come on, let’s go!”