Matt's Bone Marrow Transplant News

#TeamMatt

It’s been exactly one week since Matt walked out of those hospital doors and into my arms. I’m thrilled to report that we have enjoyed a glorious week of having Matt at “home” and are treasuring every single moment that we’ve gotten to share with him and as a family.

We’ve also had some great things happening and I’m excited to share them with you. First off, Matt continues to tolerate this chemo extremely well. He wakes up with a smile on his face and spends his days joking with us, working on his schoolwork, hanging with Tillie and playing video games. If you aren’t paying attention, you might even miss the IV line that goes from his arm to his fanny pack of chemo. Other than fighting cancer and living in a completely strange place, his life looks pretty “normal.” 

We are so grateful for each day that passes without suffering. We rejoice in his appetite and each meal he eats. We are thankful for our apartment, and how God provided it to us within 24 hours of Matt’s arrival to the KUMC. We love that Madison lives only 10 minutes from here and visits every day. We celebrate #TeamMatt and every message and note we receive supporting us, reminding us that we are not alone.

AND…..drumroll please! We have been jumping up and down and high-fiving with some amazing news that we received last week with a meeting with Matt’s bone marrow transplant coordinator. We were stunned when she told us that Matt’s donor search had gone exceptionally well and had produced 80,000 matches. Yes, you read that right - 80,000 matches. In fact, Tom just kept asking her to repeat the number over and over. We were in joyous disbelief.

As I’ve reflected on all of God’s provision, I keep going back to Matthew 14 where Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 after “healing their sick and having compassion on them.” In the story, the disciples tell Jesus there is no way they can feed the people as he has instructed them to do.  Jesus, knowing that their resources could not meet the need, simply says, “Bring me what you have.” Then he looked to heaven and said a blessing, transforming the insufficient into the abundant - feeding the crowd with leftover baskets and baskets.

Thank you to all who prayed, bringing our human inability to provide for a donor match to Jesus, who blessed our insufficiency and transformed it into 80,000 matches. Join us in giving him thanks for meeting our need and in asking him to be preparing THE person who will ultimately be Matt’s life-saving match. 

God is at work in our hearts and in Matt’s story. Thank you for being a part of it. 

Our love-

Robin