Help Matt & Rebekah Lynn Survive Illness & Cancer

I apologize that I could not come up with a more eloquent title, but I only have a limited amount of characters, so I had to get straight to the point.

On October 7th, Matt went to the ER because his eyes became yellow. He started losing weight unintentionally about 2-3 months ago. We became concerned recently when he continued to lose 1-2lbs a day. A few days before he went to the ER, he started having pains in his gut area. Matt is very stubborn about going to the Dr, but the morning he noticed he was jaundiced, that was a wake up call. He is still in the hospital and has been diagnosed with Stage IV Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma, which is a very rare bile duct liver cancer. This specific cancer is rarely detected in scans until the advanced stages. Matt had no concerning symptoms before the weight loss and pain. When they suspected this cancer at the beginning (they were 99% sure), Matt truly thought he would just start cancer treatments and get back to work. He wouldn’t cancel his gigs because he was certain he would be back to work and just work in his cancer treatments. That’s the type of person Matt is and those of you who know him already knew that.

For the past 2-3 years, Matt has helped me and been a caretaker for me while I’ve been struggling with Lupus, POTS, Chronic Kidney Disease, and Connective Tissue Disorder. We have been together off and on for 10 years and early last week when Matt got his diagnosis, he and I both realized that we wanted to seal the deal and completely commit to each other. He was scheduled for an endoscopy on Oct. 21 and the Drs told him there was a high probability he would not come out of the procedure. He insisted that we get married on Oct. 20th because this was very important to him and to me. So we had a small ceremony in his hospital room with the staff and two of his very good friends that showed up. It was very sweet and perfect for us.

I have never been someone to ask for help or especially money. I’ve been this way since I was a child. Today I must put aside my pride and very humbly ask for help. I have not been able to work the past couple of years due to my illness outside of administrative work and marketing for Matt’s Photography business. I have emptied my investment accounts and over the past 6-9 months relied completely on Matt’s income from Sweadner Portraits / Matt Sweadner Photography. We have not lived lavishly. A large percentage of our incomes went to my medical care. We now have a very aggressive monster to fight for Matt and he has no possibility of being able to work in the near future. Matt is literally fighting for his life and every day I thank God for giving me the strength to be here at the hospital and care for him. It brings incredible joy to my heart that I am able to do this for him.

We are in a very dire financial situation and I can’t express enough how difficult this is to reach out for financial help. I’ve been sitting on it for days and hitting the “submit” button gives me extreme anxiety. I have no choice. If you feel it in your heart and you are able to help us during this devastating time, we would be so grateful.

If you are unable, then we please ask for your thoughts and prayers. I promise you he truly needs them. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this diatribe. It’s impossible for me to describe this situation simply.

Again, thank you very much and please don’t ignore any symptom no matter how small. I noticed enlarged lymph nodes in Matt’s neck over a year ago. Who knows how life would have played out if this wasn’t dismissed.

Purple hearts are for Lupus and Green hearts are for liver cancer