A Bismarck 11-year-old is finishing leukemia treatment and will ring the bell

Ultra O'Connell was 9 when doctors diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. KFYR-TV reported on October 8, 2026, that the 11-year-old is wrapping up two years of treatment at Sanford Health in Bismarck. Her last chemo is this weekend. She is scheduled to ring the bell the following Friday, not the day the story aired. The station did not report long-term follow-up, so this is the end of the planned treatment, not a published survival statistic.

What she told the station she missed most was ordinary time with friends, interrupted by medication alarms. Nurses sang with her and visited her school so classmates would understand the absences and the side effects. Her mother, Lea O'Connell, said Ultra directed a lot of her own care. A Make-A-Wish trip to Singapore was one bright stretch in the middle of it.