Well, this was a huge surprise...
It has been 48+ hours since we walked out of Matt’s most recent doctor’s appointment and our heads are still spinning.
Processing this latest development has taken us some time. We’ve been quietly reflecting, exhaling and coming to grips with how God is unfolding Matt’s amazing story. So here is my best shot at trying to medically explain something unexplainable.
Here’s what we know:
Matt did accurately and fully receive the correct doses of total body irradiation and chemotherapy before transplant. These are designed to kill all the cancer cells in his body, but consequently, destroy his own immune system – which is what requires transplanting him with a new one.
Matt did indeed immunologically reject his stem cell transplant, which only happens about 1% of the time. (Very rare!) If you’ve been following along our complicated story, you know that this news came as a huge blow, but was followed by what we thought was a miracle – as Matt’s bloodwork started to rebound and his counts started to recover.
All of Matt’s labs indicated that the transplant had engrafted after all. Overjoyed, Matt was discharged to our temporary “home” in KC to continue treatment.
Our joy was short-lived. Just a few days later, we first learned that things still were not adding up. The DNA tests were showing all of Matt’s cells to be his OWN. (100% Matt, 0% Donor). So they repeated them a second, and a third time. Same result.
So, here’s what we can’t explain:
Somehow, someway, Matt’s own immune system battled back after transplant and is currently showing strong signs of recovery, which is why all his counts pointed to engraftment. This, according to the top transplant specialists across the country, is unheard of. It shouldn’t have happened. Even collectively, the top minds can’t understand it.
If at this point, if you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait. I don’t understand. I must have missed something,” then you are tracking with me perfectly. This story is as complicated as they come.
So, walking into Matt’s appointment on Monday, we fully expected our doctor to schedule Matt for another transplant and all that comes with it. But he didn’t.
Instead he acknowledged that Matt is writing his very own textbook. He is, as I’ve always said, one in a million. And because he remains cancer-free and in complete remission, the doctor did something we weren’t expecting.
He told us to go home! Home, home. Back to Columbia. Back to our beds, my kitchen, and our community (although COVID will still keep us isolated in many ways). He told us that if Matt were his 22 year-old son (which, BTW, he does have his own son named Matt who is 21), he would wait and hope. And IF the cancer returns, whether it’s today, tomorrow or in 30 years, then we will look at a second transplant or other options.
So we are home, hoping and praying for another cancer-free day and that the days will become years and the years will become decades. There are no guarantees, except that whatever happens, God will remain faithful. So for all of this, we rejoice.
I’ll be sharing more about being home and what “treatment” will look like moving forward.
Until then, PLEASE don’t stop praying for Matt to continue recovering and for the cancer to be fully and completely gone from his body. Thank you for all the love, prayers and encouragement.