Mitchell was born in
Wakefield, West Yorkshire as Wendy Patricia Draper. She grew up in her family's pub and was a sportswoman during her school years in
Pontefract. She later became a fell-walker in the Lake District. Mitchell raised her two daughters as a single mother while working as a cleaner and later in administrative roles within the NHS. After being diagnosed with
dementia, she retired from her position as a rota manager at
Leeds General Infirmary. She then campaigned for workplaces to support employees newly diagnosed with dementia. In retirement, Mitchell pursued
writing and
photography, capturing local
wildlife in her village of Walkington. She contributed to various organizations, including Innovations in Dementia and York Minds and Voices, and advised on the
BBC TV series
Casualty and the film
Still Alice (2014). Mitchell raised funds for
Dementia UK through annual challenges, which included
skydiving,
firewalking, and
wing walking. She chose to end her life through the
voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), a topic she discussed in her book
One Last Thing. In her final blog post, she expressed her belief that she had taken control of her own life and urged others to campaign for
assisted dying laws. Mitchell authored three books. She died on 22 February 2024, at the age of 68. ==Bibliography==