Matthew W.Follow

Matthew was my youngest brother. His parents, my mom and step-dad, loved him so much and were by his side through everything. Even after his diagnosis, you would never be able to tell that this baby had one of the rarest forms of childhood cancer. My brother meant and still means the world to me. He was always such a happy baby, constantly smiling and showing off his one dimple. Being his passing was a week ago today, the shock is still setting in. We were all geared up and ready to be by his side to help fight this cancer, unfortunately we never were able to get this chance.

Because of the rarity of this cancer, Schneider, Slone and St. Jude all needed to discuss certain ways to treat this cancer,since there is no protocol for treatment. Schneider and Slone both agreed on using a combination of very strong chemotherapy with an eventual removal of the tumor, which was located in his right arm near his armpit. They needed to extract his bone marrow to use after his chemo treatments to help boost his immune system. On Tuesday, February 17th, Matthew went in to have his Bport inserted and some of his bone marrow extracted. The doctor punctured one of his arteries during the procedure. I am very sad over the loss of my brother. He is now my guardian angel.