Inspirational Stories

Michael and Ashlee have a unique mother-son relationship. They share a podcast about their cancer journey. They have a website and a YouTube channel, and, yes, they even do rap songs about their hospital experiences together.

But let’s go back. Ashlee was a professional dancer on tour in France when she met her future French husband, music producer, and sound engineer extraordinaire, Patrice. They fell in love, got married, and had three beautiful children — Steven, Michael, and Jennifer. After living in Paris together for eight years, the family moved to Miami Beach. The two brothers, Steven and Michael, took up sailing and surfing, and soon they both qualified for the Olympic Development Team for windsurfing. Jennifer followed in her mother’s footsteps and discovered a love for dance. Ashlee began a new, thriving career in early childhood education. Life was good. But in 2014, their world was turned upside down. Patrice, strong, healthy, non-drinker, non-smoker, and vegetarian was diagnosed with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL), a “treatable” cancer. He went into remission quickly but relapsed soon after. He needed a bone marrow transplant, but his kidneys started failing. They would not, could not, do a BMT with organ failure on the horizon. He started chemo again, but it was too much for his body, and 17 months after diagnosis on May 12, 2016, Patrice died. He was at home, in hospice. Ashlee and the three children were hugging him, holding him, and telling him how much they loved him when he took his last breath. It was devastating, but it brought the tight family even closer.

When Michael was first feeling tired in 2020, no one imagined cancer. He was young, healthy, and an athlete. At first, they thought maybe he was anemic. Ashlee jokes she is guilty of being a vegan mama and thought maybe her athletic 19-year-old needed a little more red meat in his diet. It was the COVID-19 lockdown, and gyms and beaches were closed in Miami. Thinking it might boost Michael’s spirits, Michael and his brother Steven hopped in the car and took a road trip north to surf where the beaches had finally opened. It seemed to energize Michael for a moment, but a few days later, he was even more exhausted. Then the fevers and night sweats hit. His mom thought maybe he had COVID-19. His doctor did a blood test which led to a bone marrow biopsy and the diagnosis of blood cancer, a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma, with less than 200 documented cases ever, hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL). Ashlee and Michael had never heard of it and neither had most of the doctors. Michael’s oncologist asked them not to Google it. They did not. Later they found out why. Michael had a very slim chance of surviving much more than eight months.

Michael was a teenager, 19, a kid with nothing ahead of him but time. Until that day.

Ashlee became Michael's full-time caregiver. Without hesitation, she gave up her career, stability, and future she thought she saw in front of her to be by his side 24/7. It was a no-brainer. Caregiving became the focus of her life.

Michael had to go through three grueling rounds of chemotherapy. His only chance of survival was to get into a deep enough remission to receive a bone marrow transplant (BMT).

Michael was admitted to the bone marrow transplant unit on October 19, 2020, for a week of "prep" for the transplant, which meant four days of full body radiation, then two days of complete killer chemo, ATGAM. On October 27, he received his transplant. Michael and Ashlee stayed together at the hospital for six straight weeks. Ashlee decorated the room with fairy lights, blankets from home, and family photos turned into life-size posters, and she made motivational signs like “It is not what happens to you but how you react that matters” and “The best way to help yourself is to help others” (this became a recurring theme). The transplant was not easy, not straightforward, not linear. Michael had a PCA pump for morphine, vomited countless times, popped blood vessels in his eyes from vomiting, could not eat because of the sores throughout his GI tract, was put on IV nutrition, experienced hallucinations, and almost passed away from engraftment syndrome. Steroids saved him, which was to become a repeated pattern. It was rough, but the nurses and doctors had become family. Thirty-five days after the transplant, the mother and son went home together and finally reunited with Steven, Jennifer, and their kitty cat.

Michael and Ashlee thought that after the transplant life would get easier. BMT had been the goal. Now Michael could recover and get back to what he loved. Get back to college. The ocean. Windsurfing. Sailing. Friends. Ashlee could get back to work, get back to her career, her other children, and her own life. But that is not what happened. Michael and Ashlee were home for only one week when Michael was readmitted with serious complications. He had developed acute gastrointestinal graft versus host disease (GVHD). The doctors did not think he would pull through, but again, he defied the odds. The two went home after a few weeks in the hospital with hopes that now Michael would be on the road to recovery. It was not to be. Soon, the GVHD was affecting more organs. Michael’s liver enzymes started to creep up. He had chronic GVHD of the liver.

This was when Michael and Ashlee realized they would not be “getting back” to life pre-cancer any time soon. Life revolved around the hospital and Michael’s frail health. When Michael was diagnosed with chronic GVHD, they knew they were in this for the long haul. Remembering that “the best way to help yourself is to help others,” they started sharing their story on social media, and then, to dig even deeper, they started their podcast, Michael and Mom Talk Cancer.

As much as it helped him mentally to share their journey, Michael’s health was steadily going downhill. The chronic GVHD in his liver had become life-threatening, and after being on steroids for such a prolonged amount of time, he developed avascular necrosis throughout his body. His knees were affected the most. He could only walk short distances and was now being pushed the majority of the time by his mom in a wheelchair. They tried new medications, new immunosuppressants, and new immunotherapies, and even started a blood treatment called extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP). Up until this point, Michael has been treated at a pediatric hospital, but now the mom and son started traveling twice a week to an adult hospital to receive intense blood treatment. It was a long process, and they spent hours each week at the new hospital trying to keep his liver from failing, trying to keep Michael alive.

In the fall of 2021, Michael was readmitted to the pediatric hospital with little hope. Michael and his mom spent five months straight in the hospital. There were more and more challenging health issues. Michael started talking about hospice. He gave up. Understandably. It was so hard; his mental state was awful. He wanted to stop all treatment. But somehow, he kept going. He moved forward. From the hospital bed, the two continued making social media videos to help others. After a brief hiatus due to Michael's health, they started recording the podcast again, and soon, they took up recording rap videos about their hospital experiences just for fun. The previous 6’1” athlete who had weighed 170 lbs. was now 116 lbs. But he was alive. A kind of miracle.

When Michael was finally well enough to be discharged, he and his mom Ashlee were compelled to give back. They began posting more consistently on TikTok and Instagram. They started a website and blog to go along with the podcast. Michael started a virtual support group for cancer survivors, and Ashlee started one for cancer caregivers. They had found their purpose. They had so many lessons on perspective and life from all they had been through. Advocating was not a conscious decision, but it became part of their new life.

Love is their theme. Michael says it has been his best medicine. Ashlee says it makes magic and miracles happen. The truth is that love has been the thread throughout. That and connection. It has been inspiring to see the impact of one incredible 23-year-old kid and his very humble mom. Because, of course, the truth is, it has never been just about Michael and his mom Ashlee. It has also been about the people who have been there for them, the people who have loved them without fail. No matter what they have been going through. Sharing their experience has been like sharing a love story. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes humorous, sometimes dramatic, sometimes tragic, always real, always relevant, and always beautiful.

It is not over. Michael lives with chronic GVHD and the many complications of his bone marrow transplant, not to mention radiation, chemotherapy, and the medications he is still taking. The two still go to the hospital almost weekly for ECP and doctor visits. But they are also finding balance. As Michael says, not letting your illness control you but letting it guide you. Anything they can do to help, they are there. Advocating, inspiring, raising awareness. Michael and Ashlee do all they can to fulfill their purpose of sharing love and connection, not only with the cancer community but with anyone who needs inspiration and motivation. Their life mission . . .

You can find them speaking on stages at cancer events, on patient and caregiver panels, and featured as guests on shows and podcasts that have little to do with cancer but everything to do with inspiration and mindset. Ashlee has also become a certified “Happy for No Reason” trainer and is pursuing the goal of helping people (in particular within the cancer community) find happiness, peace, and joy, no matter what the outside circumstances may look like. Happiness is an inside job. Michael and Ashlee both know this lesson all too well. They also both lead support groups, Michael for survivors and Ashlee for caregivers on the apps Cancer Buddy and Discord. They were HONORED in 2023 to be The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Honored Heroes for Orange County. They have also spoken for LLS in South Florida and have been delighted to share some social media posts for LLS! They have taken the stage in Washington D.C. in 2023 and 2024 at CureFest to share inspiration and their story while advocating in front of Congress. They have been keynote speakers at Stupid Cancer’s CancerCon, as well as taking the stage in front of thousands at the Zumba convention in 2024 to share and inspire. This and more . . . just to give you an idea of all they have done, but how much more they want to do. They hope they CAN do with LLS. One of their dreams . . .