Ashleigh Jett was born and raised in the small community of Lothian in Maryland. She came to Indiana after moving to Hammond around the time of her early teenage years. She graduated from Carmel High School near Indianapolis. She’s been a homemaker here in the Region for over 15 years, tending to her children and all other nearby family.
During the summertime of 2022, Jett had been experiencing lots of pain in her back and her legs. One day, she faced difficulty in making physical movements, feeling practically paralyzed and in pain for reasons she didn’t know. She felt alarmed right away and realized she needed a check-up. She had been trying chiropractic care, but it was an orthopedic surgeon who finally did some imaging for her. It was suggested to her then that she go in for an MRI. Most medical professionals around her at the time thought she merely was in need of physical therapy, not suspecting a tumor.
To root out the source of her complications, Jett underwent all the necessary and appropriate tests after going to get herself seen during the proper appointments. A pain-management specialist she had been seeing reviewed one of her MRIs to find she had a spinal-cord tumor. An hour after an appointment on August 25, 2022, she was called to be informed that she had myxopapillary ependymoma, a rarer condition found in a small percentage of adults. The diagnosis affected her outlook on life, altering any former bright views she had of her future.
“I have five kids, so hearing that brought up a lot of different thoughts, a lot of different fears, and a lot of unknowns for us,” she said. “My husband had ended up in the hospital shortly before that time and started a hard journey of his own, so we were both just holding on.”
Her disease being extremely rare, Jett wasn’t given much direction in terms of how to best treat and take care of herself from square one. Fortunately for her, her aunt works at a Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and was able to connect her with a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon provided her over a text message with the guidance they knew would help her most effectively. She tried from there Rush Hospital in the Chicagoland area, but circumstances concerning her insurance propelled her to seek treatment through Indiana University Health. Her surgery happened on December 5, 2022.
Jett’s surgery brought her father all the way to the Midwest from Maryland so that he could be there with and for his daughter. Sick himself at her side, her husband remained with her, too, comforting her through her struggle. Her kids have always been a huge motivator for her, and she’s since gotten to be there for them in kind. Nowadays they compose their writing projects at school in her honor, scribbling out how she’s a symbol of inspiration to them. They in turn have inspired her to bring more attention to her condition, as it’s one which mostly affects children.
“I look at my kids, and I want to try to raise awareness. You feel alone when you get diagnosed with anything; it feels isolating, so we’ve done some fundraising with my kids’ school,” she said. “They raised some money last year, and so it feels good to give back with them.”
Surgeons removed most of Jett’s tumor, and it’s not malignant. Beginning in February of 2023, she went through 28 rounds of radiation. Though daunted, she was fortunate enough to cross paths with another woman undergoing similar treatments. While outside in the waiting room for a visit once, she was tremendously nervous about what was in store for her, and a woman radiantly encouraged her everything would be all right by grabbing her hand and saying, “It’s easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.” The two befriended each other and began driving out to appointments together for the better part of a month.
Jett hasn’t let her experience with cancer deter her in any way. She decided to go back to school, starting with getting her certification in medical coding and billing. Now she’s going for an associate’s degree in health-information technology. She wants to do something in the medical field and lend a helping hand to patients, after having to advocate largely solo throughout her fight.
“My diagnosis scared me, but I told myself after it that I had to do something. For a minute, it felt like it was going to hold me back from becoming anything,” she said. “I thought it meant a life sentence of pain and would end up with me in a wheelchair, but I haven’t let that stop me, and I won’t.”
Jett turned to assisting with the CERN Foundation, an organization committed to improving the care toward and outcomes for people with ependymoma-related cancers. She continues to stay in contact with them to try to organize and coordinate events like the one she previously arranged at her kids’ school. She hopes to see more funds gathered to ensure that more relevant research regarding detrimental cases such as her own be compiled and acted upon.
Jett’s primary joys are the loved ones she has surrounding her, especially each one of her children. When she takes time for herself, she’ll indulge in her main hobby: photography. She’s constantly looking for opportunities to get behind the lens, as well as ways to go about living out the best life possible from this point forth.
“I have been a very non-conventional person in my life. I have quite the story, so I might have to write an autobiography someday to tell it for everyone,” she said. “This is just the start of the good side.”
