Matthews Cancer Adventure

Zero is a Great Number

Family and friends,
Today is admit day for the beginning of Matthew’s consolidation!!

It will be another cycle of the Immunotherapy.

This is the treatment that got him from a Curie score of 23 to 0 to which we are very grateful to God!!! He has tolerated it well each of the previous times. This is part of “bridge treatment” to Bone Marrow Transplant in September.

Your prayers, thoughts and support, as always, will be appreciated. And of course we will keep you informed

🙏🙏🙏

Cleared for Departure!

This is a bit of a long story so bear with us.

In the last post we shared with you that Matthew was declared in “remission” and that the words “no evidence of disease” and “cancer free” were used by his primary physician. On the heals of that a previous opportunity would suddenly resurface.

Some many months ago sweet Emma’s grandmother and grandfather had asked if they could take Matthew, along with Emma, her Mom and her little sister, with them to Norway as they traveled there to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. With the treatment plan always in flux it was just not possible to commit to allowing him to make this trip. We not only didn’t know where Matthew would be in treatment but also we were unsure if his bones would be up for a trip because they are still recovering from the disease. A trip might just be too scary at this time. But with the good news from his doctor this trip now seemed possible.

What a difference 15 hours make!

From the start of wondering if Matthew could even still go to Norway, until we had everything working out, a grand total of 15 hours passed. And so many things had to fall in place fast:
– We had to get official permission from his doctor
– His doctor had to write and send a letter for Matthew to take with him on the trip
– We had to contact the travel agency and see if there was any room on the tour for him
– The travel agency had to get him on the same flights and staying at the same hotels
– And Matthew had to get packed and ready to go

We are so grateful that all worked out and Matthew was able to be blessed with this trip.

Sweet Emma’s grandmother and all the family on the trip took to Matthew so quickly and a great collection of memories are now in the books.

GREAT NEWS!!!

What could be better than hearing your C.N.P. say your sons cancer “curie” score has gone from a 23 to a 1?

Hearing your doctor say that the 1 is really a ZERO!

What could be better than hearing your doctor say the 1 is really a ZERO?

Hearing your doctor say your son is in “Remission” and then, as you are leaving, hearing her say, “Go! Enjoy being CANCER FREE!” !!!!!!!

When Dr. Foster first came in the room she said that other oncologists at home and AROUND THE WORLD are referring to Matthew as the “miracle boy”!!!!

We can’t even express how we feel … We are so thankful that it was God’s will to bring Matthew to this day and we believe that God certainly does hear and has answered prayers!!!!!

Is this just a coincidence????
– His oncologist was in Australia for a conference of top docs for this specific cancer from around the world when Matthew’s scan results came in. So … she was able to share them & get consensus from docs around the WORLD about the next step!!! This is so great since he is the only one in the world with these results!!!! We’re breaking new ground and charting a new course!!!!!

When asked Dr Foster said that the results they were expecting, after the minimal progress from the first 7 cycles, was at best to go from the 23 to a 10, 12 or 15. Needless to say, their highest hope for this last treatment wasn’t even close to what occurred! Just amazing! When dealing with such a stubborn cancer this is truly a miracle!!!😊

Matthew’s response is not something they have seen before which means that his Adventure is Charting A New Course!

Because of how aggressive this cancer is, even just one or two pesky cells floating around looking for a place to hide, more treatment is needed to ensure all of those cells get blasted. More on that later…..

Matthew’s response to the Immunotherapy is not something they have seen before which means that his Adventure is Charting A New Course!

We are so thankful for your prayers, love and support! We sure would like it if you could continue in prayer with us!!!

Cautiously Ecstatic

Mom, Jesse, Christi and I watched the latest MIBG scan with great hope and lots of prayer. Mom and I kept looking at each other and whispering that the scan on the screen didn’t look like what we had seen before. We didn’t see it lighting up in areas that had previously been filled with tumors. Not being doctors or radiologists we were cautiously ecstatic. Are we really NOT seeing what we think we aren’t seeing? Scan after scan we kept NOT seeing the bones light up in areas that previously looked like, as Matthew’s C.N.P. Peg would say, a Dalmatian. But we decided to eagerly await the report from the professionals.

So, after the scans were done, and we were leaving the hospital, Matthew leaned over and said, “Judy (the MIBG scan tech) told me that things look very different!”. And the smile on his face was just about as wide as a smile could get.

(Matthew and MIBG tech Judy)

We left the hospital in our cautiously ecstatic state and went to one of our favorite place for lunch, the Hobbit Cafe’. What a great time that was. Lots of laughter and blessing fueled by our eager anticipation of getting “the call” either that evening or the next day.

(Mom, Dad (taking the picture), Jesse and Christi at Hobbit Cafe’)FdWe did in fact have to wait until the next morning but then Mom’s phone rang. “It’s them!” she said. “Matthew come on downstairs. It’s Peg calling with the report!”. Amomnd then Peg proceeded to give us the best, happiest, most praise worthy news we could hope to hear.

We couldn’t be more GENUINELY ECSTATIC now.

We thank the Lord for this blessing and give Him all the glory!!!

And we also thank all of you for prayers, thoughts, love and support. We still need all of that as we move forward but it most certainly is HAPPY DANCE time!!!!!!!

NEXT UP – MIBG Radiation Therapy in Ft Worth … just to get that last little bit!!!

Proud Parents

On June 4th, 2016 Matthew walked the stage at NRG Stadium with his senior class from Klein Oak High School and received his diploma.

We are so thankful to God for this very special day. Matthew worked hard through wonderful and dedicated homebound tutoring given by Coach G and he made all the requirements for graduating on time. We are also thankful to so many at Klein Oak and in Klein ISD, including Dr Brian Greeney, Lance Alexander, and Allison Wallace, who really went above and beyond to work around the treatment cycles as well as times when Matthew just didn’t have the energy to focus on AP Calculus and AP Physics. When he was feeling good he buckled down and studied hard and tested very well. He is certainly ready, as much as anyone can be, to take that next step into college life and focus on getting his Mechanical Engineering degree!

As parent, seeing all he accomplished while going through so much, we couldn’t be more proud!! We give all the glory to the Lord and pray for blessed college years and whatever his long life will bring.

NEXT UP – Another cycle of Immunotherapy. Your prayers, as always, will be appreciated!

Cutest Couple

Well, after much rain and flooding postponed the Band Banquet it was rescheduled and finally happened.

Matthew had a great time due in no small part to the fact that sweet Emma, who is also in the band, was sitting by his side.

Amongst the many awards given out by their classmates Matthew and Emma were voted “Cutest Couple” and Matthew was voted “Band Beau”!!

It made us so happy to see Matthew enjoy this special day and be honored by his piers. All on the heals of having such a great time at Prom and SNAPP.

NEXT UP – Graduation!

Sweet and Sharp

What an exciting time! Matthew and sweet Emma put on their Prom best and headed to the pre-Prom photo session with a group of their classmates. It was so great to see all of them in their formals and big smiles.

Then they were off to the Prom and some dancing!

After the Prom the school put on something called SNAPP (an After Prom Party) where the kids got to go to a venue called Main Event, where they could bowl, shoot pool and play arcade games, and were locked in until 5am. Matthew, sweet Emma, and their friends had a great time! When they were picked up everybody else was getting sleepy and Matthew still had energy left over. We guessed that since he hadn’t had such good hemoglobin numbers in a while and was used to operating at such low numbers that it was like he had just woke up from a long nights sleep.

We are so thankful to God that since he started the Immunotherapy that his labs have been really good.

NEXT UP – The Band Banquet

Peg’s Poker Face

Yesterday we arrived for our clinic visit, had blood drawn and then waited for Peg to come bring us the results. This wait left time to dream about lunch and Matthew decided a California Burger at Café Express would satisfy very nicely! (Which it did)

Anyway, when Peg entered the room she was clutching the printout close and said she was trying to put on her poker face! She couldn’t hide her smile and after having us guess what the numbers were she proceeded to give us another great report. Very good hemoglobin and platelets and an ANC showing that his immune system is good!

(ANC is the white cell number that says your immune system is good or low and determines your ability to be out and about.)

Peg says these good numbers will only get better so Matthew is excited to go to his Graduation events, go to school and take a few exams, attend his band banquet, take sweet Emma to the Prom and walk across the stage at Graduation to receive his High School diploma!

We continue to be humbled by all the prayers, love and support all of you are showing Matthew and us. May the Lord bless you all!!!

Permission Given!
Matthew’s doctor approved of him going to the driving range … and even playing a round of golf so we are getting his clubs cleaned up and ready.

I can’t tell you how big his smile is, knowing that he can go enjoy this activity.

Yes, he’ll take it easy since he hasn’t swung his clubs since before his Adventure began, but what a joy to be able to participate in this sport once again. Maybe Matthew has his eyes set on joining the Texas A&M golf team?

Thank you all for your ongoing support and prayers!

A Great Mother’s Day Gift

What better way is there to spend Mother’s Day than being released from the hospital and getting to spend some quality time at home.

Every cycle is different. This time the pain management started off good and stayed there. And the same with the diarrhea. Last time he hardly felt nauseous even though he had episodes of vomiting. This time there has been more nausia and occasional vomiting. We are doing our best to manage that on schedule at home and pray that Matthew will be past that soon and back to his customary eating and gaining weight.

We came home with great bloodwork and pray that this will only improve during the week before.the next clinic visit.

Honestly, even with the bumps in the road we feel thankful and blessed.

Matthew believes that since these cycles are a little more hard hitting that they are doing what they are supposed to do.

The next three weeks are filled with great senior and graduation activities and, without a doubt, many sweet Emma days, and that’s good medicine!

We remain thankful to all of you who follow Matthew, praying for him, keeping him in your thoughts and supporting him.