Mitchell’s Story

Site created on December 14, 2018

"It all began April 15, 1995..." No, just kidding! If you've found your way to this site then you know Mitch and most of his story. To bring you up to speed with what the heck happened and how we found ourselves here we need to step back to beginning of October 2018. Mitch had worked out one night and woke up the next morning with strange back pain. He brushed it off as a mild injury and started stretching and doing low impact exercises to help ease the pain. The pain didn't stop. On October 8th, 2018 we entered the emergency room due to excruciating back and lower body pain. After 16 hours in the ER we left with heavy pain meds and some odd bloodwork. A few weeks later Mitch had blood redrawn to still see some abnormalities. He received a referral to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to get his blood retested. We had the appointment, went out to a late lunch and just as we were 20 minutes away (we live 2 hours south of Walter Reed) we received a phone call instructing us to come back for more testing. When we got to Walter Reed, we were greeted and given a room to settle into. A few moments later we were told Mitch has what they thought was leukemia. Based on the bone marrow biopsy, the initial diagnosis is confirmed. Mitch is now fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and he is here to win.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Kirsi Cochell

Well, hello! It's been a while.... and we're not mad about that!

Here we are in May of 2021, 2 .5 years after Mitch was diagnosed, and we are ready to close this chapter... happy and healthy I might add!

A lot has happened between now and the last update we posted.

After Mitch successfully won his appeal against his initial medical evaluation board, we received orders for his next assignment to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. We were so excited because it was our top base preference! We put a deposit down on a townhouse and started preparing for the big move in the middle of his maintenance treatment plan.

Not long after that, Mitch began having hip pain that was determined to be avascular necrosis of both femoral heads (basically the bone was dying due to lack of blood supply as a result of steroids from treatment). Luckily we caught it early so instead of total hip replacements he underwent smaller procedures on both hips.

Because of the issues with his hips, he was flagged and underwent another medical evaluation board. The MEB caused his orders to Hill to fall through. We stayed put at Pax River and continued treatment with his amazing team at Walter Reed (which we won't complain about!).

It was soooo much fun to go through a second MEB but we are happy to say it's over and he won the second time around (if anyone can, Mitch can).

Like almost everyone else, we spent most of 2020 working from home and watching Netflix... and although I tried, we did not end up with a second dog (yet).

Now fast-forward to 2021-

Due to changes in treatment protocols for males, Mitch was able to complete his final chemotherapy infusion this past March and in mid-April, he completed his final oral dose of chemotherapy pills (one year before he initially was scheduled to be done)!

And just yesterday Mitch had his port removed- the second to last step in his treatment plan!

And now we are wrapping up our fourth year in Southern Maryland and excited to share that we are set to move to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio this summer.

We are so grateful for all of the support we've received over the last 2.5 years.

While this has been a long road and we would have never chosen it ourselves, we have learned so much about who we are, how to love and support each other, and how to stand strong together when life goes the opposite of what you expect it to.

All that's left to do is get back up to Walter Reed and ring the bell surrounded by the best healthcare team we could have imagined!

Again, thank you for your love and support. On our hardest days, we had so many others to lean on. For that, we will always be grateful.

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