Hello! My name is Travis Mitchell. This is the story of my sister, Ashli Mitchell, and her battle with cancer.

My sister was diagnosed with stage 1B3 small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix in September 2021. This is a rare and aggressive subtype of cervical cancer that approximately 100 women are diagnosed within the United States each year. This was undoubtedly devastating news that our family was not prepared to hear and change all our lives.

My sister’s battle began with a hysterectomy in early October 2021, successfully removing the malignant tumor. Following her hysterectomy, my sister started radiotherapy and chemotherapy. My sister received two types of radiotherapy: external for 25 days and brachytherapy for 3 days. Chemotherapy was administered intravenously every third week for three days a week. The chemotherapy drugs suppressed her immune system, so the three weeks break between chemotherapy sessions were necessary to allow her immune system to recover. She underwent this treatment regimen from November 2021 to January 2022. My sister spent many nights in the ER and hospitals due to complications from the treatment. This aggressive treatment regimen has left some long-lasting effects on her body. She was administered steroids to help counteract some of the symptoms she experienced from her treatment, leading to her developing type 2 diabetes. She now has irreversible hearing loss from one of the chemotherapy drugs. She also developed proctitis from radiotherapy. Despite all the negatives, she still fought. Finally, on March 3rd, 2022, my sister went into remission. My sister had finally beat cancer; at least, that’s what we thought.

Over the past month, my sister has been sick and in a lot of pain. She finally went to the ER on June 17, 2022. Since she had a history of cancer, they performed a CT scan. The CT scan didn’t show anything linked to her back pain which is now diagnosed as osteoporosis because of the cancer treatment regimen. Unfortunately, the CT scan also showed four nodules on my sister’s abdomen wall. A biopsy showed that these four nodules are malignant, so my sister is now diagnosed with small cell carcinoma with focal necrosis—another rare and aggressive form of cancer. This time around it’s different; she won’t be able to have treatment where she lives. She will likely need to travel to MD Anderson in Houston. My sister is a strong woman and made it through once, and she will make it through this again.

The first battle with cancer was rough on our family—especially my mom. I’m halfway across the country in a Ph.D. program at the University at Buffalo, so I cannot physically be there with my sister. In addition, my dad is blind from a degenerative eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa and cannot drive. This left my mom as the only person who was able to ensure my sister received the care she needed outside of the hospital. My sister and I also have three special-needs siblings who are now young adults. One sibling has autism, one has paranoid schizophrenia, and the other has a frontal-lob deficiency. In addition to caring for my sister, my mom also had to ensure my entire family had what they needed. She constantly had to take care of everyone from 5 AM until 12 PM daily. For months. We greatly appreciate all that my mom has done for our family.

We understand that times are hard for many people, but please consider donating whatever you can contribute. Please help my sister beat cancer again! All donations will go directly to our family to help with travel, treatment, general expenses, and overall well-being for our family.

Thank you for your generosity,

Travis, Xiaotong, and the Mitchell Family