Lymphoma patient and family give back

After three years of sporadic discomfort in his legs and knees, Matt’s pain had become almost unbearable. Thinking it was an athletic injury, he made an appointment with a sports medicine specialist. The verdict was a shock – cancer. Immediately, Matt and his fiancé, Emily, rushed to the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto.

That was the start of a series of tests, scans, and surgeries that Matt went through as doctors searched for an exact diagnosis. Matt meticulously documented every single one of his dozens of visits to Stanford during that summer. The cancer was so aggressive that multiple biopsy samples failed; the cells were necrotic and could not be properly tested. Finally, just days after his 28th birthday in August 2016, Matt received a diagnosis: non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Fortunately, the cancer was treatable, but he needed to start chemotherapy immediately.

One week later, Matt traveled back to Stanford for his first treatment. After that, he returned every 21 days, waking up at 6am, driving 90 minutes to Stanford, and getting home around 8pm after a long day of chemotherapy, blood work, and scans. Four months later, Matt finished chemotherapy and moved on to three weeks of daily radiation. Because his bones were weakened by the treatment, Matt had to use crutches all the time. Nevertheless, he was determined to keep his life as normal as possible. He worked the entire time, taking radiation appointments over his lunch breaks. Finally, in December 2016, Matt successfully completed his last radiation appointment. Today, he is in remission and returns to the hospital every three months for a checkup.

Matt is quick to say that his friends and family were critical to his successful recovery. Yet, his community was doing more than providing emotional support. A good friend set up a GoFundMe page for the couple to help them with their medical expenses. Matt and Emily were touched by their friends’ generosity, but after talking it over, they decided that others needed this money more than them. That’s when Emily first got in touch with Jen Shah, LLS’s Patient Access Manager.

Emily said, “I met with Jen, and she was really responsive and gave me a ton of resources about ways we could donate that are more locally focused. She really listened to what we wanted. After hearing about a couple different things, I felt a direct connection to the North Bay Travel Assistance program.”

The couple agreed that travel was a huge challenge during treatment. “I always say that I was fortunate in an unfortunate situation,” Matt said. “I work for a great company and have great insurance. But it’s still a pain to drive to Stanford, even just from San Francisco. I can imagine if you’re coming from further that [the costs of] gas, bridge tolls -- it adds up.”

“It makes you think about people who don’t have enough,” Emily added. “Blood cancers affect everyone, and I can see how travel could be a deterrent to being treated at a best in class hospital like Stanford.”

That’s why Matt & Emily made the incredible decision to donate over $28,000 from their GoFundMe page and other donations received to the North Bay Travel Assistance program. The money will be directly used to provide $500 grants to patients in North Bay counties who need help paying for the costs of gas, tolls, lodging, and parking while traveling for blood cancer treatment.

“Finances are a huge stress for anyone, much less for those in cancer treatment,” Emily said. “If we can help, big or small, we want to. Taking that burden off others is the least we can do, because we had so much help and support.”

Today, Emily and Matt have no regrets about their donation to LLS, and friends and family have been enthusiastic about their generous choice. Emily added, “The resources that Jen gave us made it easy to share what we were doing with the money and why it was important. LLS was so easy to work with and gave us a way to impact those who need it most.”

Thank you, Matt and Emily, for making a difference in the lives of local families! 

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's North Bay Travel Assistance program is also generously supported by the Community Foundation Sonoma County and the North Bay Cancer Alliance. If you or someone you know is a blood cancer patient who would like to apply for assistance through this program, please contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572 (Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET).