Prayers for Matt

Friday, April 1st, was going along normally until mid-morning when I got a text from my friend Liz, telling me her hubby Matt was in the hospital. Thus started a roller-coaster of emotions, travel, changed plans, and lots of prayers.

Matt is a young man, a father of six, who was diagnosed with prostrate cancer in August last year. He was also informed that it had spread into his bones. Since he had been under 50, he hadn't been routinely screened for prostrate cancer, but he was the exception to the average, having the cancer at a younger age. Although offered the option of chemotherapy, he decided to attack the cancer with diet changes and it seemed to be working. At least he said it was.

But apparently he was actually experiencing a high level of pain. Thursday night he was in his recliner watching television and had been experiencing a lot of back pain. He called out to his wife in a panic at about 2:00 am, being unable to feel his legs or support his weight and experiencing a high level of back pain. After contacting an ambulance, he was taken to the hospital for an MRI and some tests.

When Liz texted me in mid-morning, he was just being taken in for the MRI. The results were not good. By the time we visited him last night, he had undergone two more MRI's and a CT scan. His prostrate cancer has now formed masses in three places around his spinal column, causing extreme pain and blocking the nerves leading to his legs.

So he'll now be in the hospital for 6-10 days and today (Saturday) he'll begin an intensive course of radiation therapy. It should, ideally, shrink the tumors and minimize the pain, but it may well be too late. DH is very upset - he doesn't have a lot of male friends left. We're beginning to experience the one fact of growing older - that friends we have loved have died before us and we are becoming more solitary and insular as a result. I'm fortunate, I have friends who are still active and in contact with me frequently. But DH's friends - Bruce, Steve and Rich are all gone and his social network is dramatically shrinking.

So if you happen to have time over the next day or two, or week or two, please send out some White Light for Matt, a husband, a father, and a fighter. He's not going to give in to this without a fight, but your kind thoughts and prayers would be appreciated and may help. I'll be back on Monday, have a good weekend.