A battle with stage-four cancer Audrey DeShelter has waged since age five has left her with severe lung damage and mobility issues, but that hasn’t stopped her from attending Notre Dame.
The 19-year-old college freshman engineering student received a diagnosis of neuroblastoma as a child. Since then she endured six relapses and many treatments, including chemotherapy and surgeries.
Audrey’s father, Ben DeShelter, said she maintains a positive attitude and excels academically.
“She is the sweetest girl imaginable she’s also extremely intelligent, extremely driven, but never would say a bad word about anybody. And just kindness comes out of her every time we see her,” he said.
Audrey has suffered more than anyone Ben said he’s known or heard about, but she never complains.
“She just has an indomitable spirit. She doesn’t want to feel defeated, even when things have gotten the worst,” Ben said.
When Audrey was first diagnosed, the family’s world turned upside down, Ben said. His wife, Jennifer, left her full-time job working at the family’ dental practice and spent most of the next 18 months in the hospital with Audrey.
Her first relapse came when she was eight. She was told she might have a 5 percent chance of making it past a year, Ben said. After undergoing experimental treatments, she went into remission. When she suffered another relapse, her doctors said there was not much more they could do.
Ben and Jennifer checked around the country for different treatment options. They found a drug trial that put her in remission for five years. But a scan on the fifth anniversary of remission revealed she had relapsed again. Audrey been through many different trials and treatments at seven different hospitals, Ben said.
A treatment she started in December 2023 damaged her lungs, and with diminishing function, Audrey now needs oxygen and uses a mobility scooter to get around.
Throughout her years of treatment, the Rally Foundation has helped the family find different treatment options. Founder and CEO Dean Crowe’s help included getting Audrey into the drug trial that had kept her in remission for five years.
Recent FDA approval of the trial drug could mean she can resume that treatment. Crowe is helping the family by putting them in touch with a doctor who is an expert in pediatric cancer to help determine if the treatment is suitable.
Ben said they got help from Crowe even before they met her.
“But she can actually get me these connections where I can just talk to experts over the phone without having to fly,” he said.
He said Crowe does that for everybody the Rally Foundation helps, but she’s really stepped up to help his daughter.
The support is mutual. Audrey announced a #RallyforAudrey fund to raise money for pediatric cancer research in conjunction with the National Championship Game that pitted Notre Dame against Ohio State in Atlanta. She wants to fund as many $50,000 Rally Foundation dual peer-reviewed research grants as possible.
Audrey has helped Rally since her initial diagnosis. In 2022, Rally raised nearly $3 million at its annual Benefit Bash fundraiser. Audrey delivered a keynote address to more than 700 people in attendance.
Because of Audrey’s condition, her mother has moved to South Bend, IN, with Ben visiting them on weekends.
Three days after attending the FNCP, she started driving back to Notre Dame with her mother and her brother Scott, but was delayed by a stop at the Arthur M. Blank Hospital to check her lungs. The visit helped bring attention to her fundraising efforts through the Rally Foundation, which is based in Sandy Springs.
Ben said Notre Dame is the best place for her because it distracts her from her illness. She’s an excellent student, he said, getting A’s in her courses.
Scott is considering delaying completing his final semester from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland for a year so he can help his sister. He has one remaining course that is only offered in the spring.
Ben said his son has been a good big brother and has been with her the whole time. He’s spent the night at the hospital with her, too.
“Now that he’s older, he’s 21 now, he’ll give us a break, and then he’ll spend time with her.” Ben said. “And she loves it too, because they could just sit around talking and playing games and that kind of thing. So he’s really grown up to be a strong young man that way, just emotionally supportive and wants to be there for his sister.”