Help Matt Laudrum Fight Brain Cancer

SUPPORT for MATT 

Matt Laudrum’s brain cancer has returned. His family and friends have been reaching out and asking how they can support Matt. So we have decided to set up a gofundme campaign to raise funds for anything that Matt might need help with during this next round of treatments.

Matt is what we call a local Bowen “boy”,  now a young man, 35 years of age. He was raised on Bowen Island with his twin brother, Mike, son of Sandi and Ernie Laudrum. He was your typical Bowen Island kid ~ spending summers at the beach swimming, boating and fishing, he was on the BICS roller blading hockey team, the “Hornets”, and a big part of his teenage life was spent mountain biking. After high school Matt worked for, and trained under, George Helanius as an excavator operator and is now a master at his trade. He then worked for the Kiewit Construction group on the Sea to Sky highway build and the Port Mann Bridge project for 10 years. Today Matt works for Twin Island Excavation and has been a proud volunteer with the Bowen Island Fire Department for over 7 years.


Matt is hard working, resilient, passionate and enjoys a good old fashioned dance on a night out. He is a happy, energetic and thoughtful person. One of his greatest traits is that he has the unique ability to turn negativity into positivity. Throughout his entire illness, he has not complained once. It would be impossible to find anyone, that after meeting Matt , would have anything negative to say about him. Matt  has impacted so many lives in so many ways and now it’s our turn to help impact his. 

In December 2016 Matt started to experience fatigue and painful headaches, with seemingly no answer as to why they were occurring. The first major incident that Matt experienced was in January 2017, on a trip to Hawai,  where he almost fainted. At the time, everyone assumed it was a one-off incident caused from either working too much or lack of sleep. Little did anyone know that the fainting incident was not something minor, but something much more severe; it was in fact a focal seizure. Once home Matt went to see his doctor, who strongly advised that he go and get an MRI. The results of the MRI showed a mass in his brain. After meeting with specialists Matt learnt that the mass was, in fact, a tumour, brain cancer.  Due to anatomical and physiological reasons Matts neurosurgeon is unable to remove the tumour. The decision was made to move forward with extensive radiation and chemotherapy treatments, six months of each, five times a week. Everyone was very hopeful and the brain cancer went into remission. Things were going well and Matt was doing as well as anyone could have hoped for health wise despite what he had just overcome.

Summer 2020 another blow …. Matt was required to do another MRI, which was routine to ensure that the tumour was dormant and to check on his health. Unfortunately, the results of that MRI were not what anyone had anticipated; the MRI showed the return of the cancerous growth. Matt’s oncologist has advised immediate treatment. The neurosurgeon is unable to remove the tumour and the only course of medical treatment possible at this time is chemotherapy for an undetermined amount of time. This could be anywhere from 6 months to 3 years, during which time Matt will be unable to work and will require significant aide.

Asking for help doesn’t come easily for Matt.  He has always valued being able to stand on his own two feet and take care of himself, of his family and friends. I know, from living 30 years on this beautiful island of ours, that we’re all in this together.  We need help for Matt to fight this cancer. For now, we have set the goal for $60,000, but most likely the cost will be way more than that. We will have to increase the goal when the treatment advances. We will keep you updated on Matt and his progress. If you could please take the time to donate what you can to help support Matt on his  journey, even if it is a small amount, it will go a long way. 

Whether you do or don't donate, please share his story and this page with your network (on your social media, e-mail, a call, or text). If you can think of any other ways you can help, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you to all of you who will be donating. 

We can't thank you enough.

If you would like to contact me directly you can at:

E: [email redacted]

T: [phone redacted]