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My name is Matthew Brophy, Fordham Prep alumni class of 1983. I will do my best to keep this story as brief as possible but there will be certain things that I will need to disclose for this to be effective. Looking back on my life and reflecting upon all of the decisions that I have made in my life I can honestly and without hesitation say that one of the best decisions I made in my life was going to Fordham Prep. The high quality education that I received was not only invaluable but priceless and still stays with me to this day. It is also the bonds, relationships, friendships that are developed along with the indelible memories that I cherish to this day.
I feel compelled to give you a little history about my background as it is important to understand the person that I am and why I am doing this. By the time I was 8 years old I was delivering newspapers in the Crestwood section of Yonkers, New York (where I grew up). By the time I was 9 I was delivering the same newspapers by myself to a 90 house route. This was definitely daunting and challenging at times especially if you take into account the weather and the change of seasons. By the time I was 10 I was working on the golf course as a caddy. I instantly was very attracted to the game and grew to love the game very much as well. It was also something that I excelled at fairly quickly simply because I paid attention and very close attention to detail. The money was also incredibly lucrative as I paid for a good percentage of my Fordham Prep tuition and a very large percentage of my tuition at college (Fordham University). The point of all of this is that I have always been an ambitious person and tried to rely on other people as little as possible. I am of the mindset that a person worth can at least partly be measured by how much they contribute to society and how much they milk or freeload the multitude of government programs. I can honestly say without hesitation or reservation that I NEVER once took advantage or milked the system for handouts and free stuff no matter how dire things may have been. In addition to the various work jobs (busser, caddy, etc.) I was also on the high school golf team, swim team and rugby team. Numerous classmates will be able to attest to all that I am stating here and now. The point is that I am an honest and sincere person because that is who I am, the way I was raised and a strong foundation in the Jesuit Roman Catholic tradition which I adhere to today and undoubtedly the rest of my life.
I was first diagnosed with stage 3/4 prostate cancer in March/April 2018. I was taking natural supplements and a lot of walking on the golf course (Leewood Golf Club, Eastchester, New York). I was fine until the end of October 2018 when I ended up in White Plains Hospital ER room for urine retention. It was incredibly and excruciatingly painful. If I did not go when I did my bladder may have exploded and all kinds of different complications would have arisen. In a matter of ten minutes almost 2 liters of urine emptied from my bladder through the catheter. You have no idea how much of a relief that was from a pain standpoint. The doctor took out the catheter 4 days later and everything was fine until January 2019. It was in November 2018 that I drove back home to Texas from New York and too make matters worse I was rear ended by a tractor trailer truck in Bristol Tennessee on the way home. Luckily nobody was hurt and it was not my fault. Then in January 2019 I went to North Central Baptist Hospital - San Antonio, Texas due to urine retention. Again the pain was unbearable. I did not have and was unable to get health insurance until March 01, 2019 with Oscar health insurance. I was in and out of the same ER room another 3 - 4 times until March 01, 2019. So needless to say the medical bills started to accumulate with no health insurance and no way to pay for it. After I purchased the health insurance I was able to get an appointment with a top notch urologist (Dr. Naveem Kella) at the Urology Place on Huebner Road in San Antonio. At first the catheters were working okay and just needed occasional irrigation (flushing out due to blood clots). I would continue to have blood clots for months. Then Dr. Kella's staff gave me 2 hormone therapy shots which were working for a period of time. My PSA was 36 in March/April 2018. Some how by January 2019 my PSA ws 56. I am not sure how it had grown to such a high number. The PSA steadily declined from January until May 2019 and got even as low as 7 but then spiked back up to 56 - 58. The whole time I had to deal with catheters - uncomfortable to painful at times. In January 2019 I was 5 ' 8 and 195 lbs and by April 2019 I was down to 145 lbs. Now I seem to be steady at 155 lbs. approximately the same weight I was in high school.
July 2019 I was back in the same ER room for urine retention. Luckily the hospital is only 5 - 10 minute drive from my apartment. Everything started to show signs of improvement after I started chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy treatment was not without its own setbacks. The first time was fine but the second time there were complications. I was having a bad reaction so they stopped it and had me on saline for another half hour and reduced the speed. This seem to have worked. The next time about 10 minutes into the chemo session I had another bad reaction but it was a false alarm. They changed the chemo drug and maintained the same reduced speed. It seemed to work for a while but there would be many more setbacks to come.
September 10, 2019 I went to my oncologist at South Texas Oncology (Dr. Guniganti). I had an elevated temperature of close to 103. They gave me tylenol which helped a little bit but just not enough. The doctor said that if you still have an elevated temperature tomorrow then you need to check yourself into hospital. Sure enough on September 11, 2019 I had an elevated temperature and checked myself into the hospital. I had urine retention, a lot of difficulty with bowel movements and a plethora of other issues. There were complications with the placement of the catheter through my uretha as it was not draining. So the doctors put in a super pubic catheter directly from my bladder to the bag. I was in the hospital for approximately 10 days. I find it rather ironic that I was admitted to the hospital on September 11 a day that will live in infamy especially for New Yorkers. Needless to say there were countless painful moments due to difficulty with bowel movements. I was transferred to St. Luke's Hospital (Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas) for the super pubic catheter procedure and received a blood transfusion.
After I left St. Luke's Hospital I was back at North Central Baptist Hospital ER room for urine retention. Luckily they could just replace the catheter from my bladder. Even then I was still having blood clots causing a lot of the problems. The worst part about this is that I could not do anything about the blood clots. so in October 2019 I was back in the hospital at North Central Baptist Hospital for what I thought was just going to be urine retention. As it turns out it was much worse than that. I was admitted to the hospital and was there for approximately another 10 days. I had sepsis which they gave me various antibiotics which eventually worked. I was also borderline anemic at 7.0. So I received 5 blood transfusions and a new super pubic catheter for the urine retention. Before that though the urologist was trying to insert a catheter inside my uretha but told him they tried previously and it did not work. Sure enough the doctor tried 3 times and was unsuccessful each time. Needless to say the experience was incredibly painful.
Then in November 2019 I underwent radiation sessions. There were 42 sessions from Monday to Friday which lasted until January 6, 2020. The radiation oncologist at the Aurora Center, San Antonio, Texas (Dr. Dahlbeck) stated that I was on schedule or even a little a head of schedule. The radiation itself was not painful but the lingering affects were very painful. Each session was about 10 - 15 minutes long. After the radiation there was a lot of inflammation causing more painful problems with bowel movements and congestion from the zapped tumor flowing down through my uretha. The oncologist (Dr. G) stated that I would have the tumor flow through my uretha until sometime between March and August 2020. So I may not be able to urinate on my own until then which means that I will continue to have the super pubic catheter from the bladder until that time. I went to my oncologist Dr. G. in the last week of January 2020 and he stated that I did not have chemo during the radiation because I was too weak. To make matters worse though is that Dr. G. stated that if I had chemotherapy that last Friday in January 2020 that it would kill me. Needless to say I did not have the chemotherapy session.
It is a tribute to my classmates from Fordham Prep (class of 1983) that have supported me every way possible - emotionally, spiritually, financially and every other way possible. Even just a conversation over the phone gives me optimism, hope, ambition and motivation. It is a testimony to strong foundation laid and embedded while at Fordham Prep that I also attribute my classmates coming to my aid and support.
I am a quiet, reserved person and sometimes a little too prideful. I find myself in a dire financial situation since I have not been able to work the past year plus. I have depleted my savings and resources and my spouse has been out of work for the past 3 months. First of all I am asking for all of your prayers (novenas where possible), thoughts and well wishes. Secondly, I am am seeking financial support through the go fund me link below. If you are unable to make a contribution at this point that is perfectly fine and understandable. If you could somehow find it in your heart and budget to make a contribution that would be greatly appreciated.
I feel compelled to give you a little history about my background as it is important to understand the person that I am and why I am doing this. By the time I was 8 years old I was delivering newspapers in the Crestwood section of Yonkers, New York (where I grew up). By the time I was 9 I was delivering the same newspapers by myself to a 90 house route. This was definitely daunting and challenging at times especially if you take into account the weather and the change of seasons. By the time I was 10 I was working on the golf course as a caddy. I instantly was very attracted to the game and grew to love the game very much as well. It was also something that I excelled at fairly quickly simply because I paid attention and very close attention to detail. The money was also incredibly lucrative as I paid for a good percentage of my Fordham Prep tuition and a very large percentage of my tuition at college (Fordham University). The point of all of this is that I have always been an ambitious person and tried to rely on other people as little as possible. I am of the mindset that a person worth can at least partly be measured by how much they contribute to society and how much they milk or freeload the multitude of government programs. I can honestly say without hesitation or reservation that I NEVER once took advantage or milked the system for handouts and free stuff no matter how dire things may have been. In addition to the various work jobs (busser, caddy, etc.) I was also on the high school golf team, swim team and rugby team. Numerous classmates will be able to attest to all that I am stating here and now. The point is that I am an honest and sincere person because that is who I am, the way I was raised and a strong foundation in the Jesuit Roman Catholic tradition which I adhere to today and undoubtedly the rest of my life.
I was first diagnosed with stage 3/4 prostate cancer in March/April 2018. I was taking natural supplements and a lot of walking on the golf course (Leewood Golf Club, Eastchester, New York). I was fine until the end of October 2018 when I ended up in White Plains Hospital ER room for urine retention. It was incredibly and excruciatingly painful. If I did not go when I did my bladder may have exploded and all kinds of different complications would have arisen. In a matter of ten minutes almost 2 liters of urine emptied from my bladder through the catheter. You have no idea how much of a relief that was from a pain standpoint. The doctor took out the catheter 4 days later and everything was fine until January 2019. It was in November 2018 that I drove back home to Texas from New York and too make matters worse I was rear ended by a tractor trailer truck in Bristol Tennessee on the way home. Luckily nobody was hurt and it was not my fault. Then in January 2019 I went to North Central Baptist Hospital - San Antonio, Texas due to urine retention. Again the pain was unbearable. I did not have and was unable to get health insurance until March 01, 2019 with Oscar health insurance. I was in and out of the same ER room another 3 - 4 times until March 01, 2019. So needless to say the medical bills started to accumulate with no health insurance and no way to pay for it. After I purchased the health insurance I was able to get an appointment with a top notch urologist (Dr. Naveem Kella) at the Urology Place on Huebner Road in San Antonio. At first the catheters were working okay and just needed occasional irrigation (flushing out due to blood clots). I would continue to have blood clots for months. Then Dr. Kella's staff gave me 2 hormone therapy shots which were working for a period of time. My PSA was 36 in March/April 2018. Some how by January 2019 my PSA ws 56. I am not sure how it had grown to such a high number. The PSA steadily declined from January until May 2019 and got even as low as 7 but then spiked back up to 56 - 58. The whole time I had to deal with catheters - uncomfortable to painful at times. In January 2019 I was 5 ' 8 and 195 lbs and by April 2019 I was down to 145 lbs. Now I seem to be steady at 155 lbs. approximately the same weight I was in high school.
July 2019 I was back in the same ER room for urine retention. Luckily the hospital is only 5 - 10 minute drive from my apartment. Everything started to show signs of improvement after I started chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy treatment was not without its own setbacks. The first time was fine but the second time there were complications. I was having a bad reaction so they stopped it and had me on saline for another half hour and reduced the speed. This seem to have worked. The next time about 10 minutes into the chemo session I had another bad reaction but it was a false alarm. They changed the chemo drug and maintained the same reduced speed. It seemed to work for a while but there would be many more setbacks to come.
September 10, 2019 I went to my oncologist at South Texas Oncology (Dr. Guniganti). I had an elevated temperature of close to 103. They gave me tylenol which helped a little bit but just not enough. The doctor said that if you still have an elevated temperature tomorrow then you need to check yourself into hospital. Sure enough on September 11, 2019 I had an elevated temperature and checked myself into the hospital. I had urine retention, a lot of difficulty with bowel movements and a plethora of other issues. There were complications with the placement of the catheter through my uretha as it was not draining. So the doctors put in a super pubic catheter directly from my bladder to the bag. I was in the hospital for approximately 10 days. I find it rather ironic that I was admitted to the hospital on September 11 a day that will live in infamy especially for New Yorkers. Needless to say there were countless painful moments due to difficulty with bowel movements. I was transferred to St. Luke's Hospital (Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas) for the super pubic catheter procedure and received a blood transfusion.
After I left St. Luke's Hospital I was back at North Central Baptist Hospital ER room for urine retention. Luckily they could just replace the catheter from my bladder. Even then I was still having blood clots causing a lot of the problems. The worst part about this is that I could not do anything about the blood clots. so in October 2019 I was back in the hospital at North Central Baptist Hospital for what I thought was just going to be urine retention. As it turns out it was much worse than that. I was admitted to the hospital and was there for approximately another 10 days. I had sepsis which they gave me various antibiotics which eventually worked. I was also borderline anemic at 7.0. So I received 5 blood transfusions and a new super pubic catheter for the urine retention. Before that though the urologist was trying to insert a catheter inside my uretha but told him they tried previously and it did not work. Sure enough the doctor tried 3 times and was unsuccessful each time. Needless to say the experience was incredibly painful.
Then in November 2019 I underwent radiation sessions. There were 42 sessions from Monday to Friday which lasted until January 6, 2020. The radiation oncologist at the Aurora Center, San Antonio, Texas (Dr. Dahlbeck) stated that I was on schedule or even a little a head of schedule. The radiation itself was not painful but the lingering affects were very painful. Each session was about 10 - 15 minutes long. After the radiation there was a lot of inflammation causing more painful problems with bowel movements and congestion from the zapped tumor flowing down through my uretha. The oncologist (Dr. G) stated that I would have the tumor flow through my uretha until sometime between March and August 2020. So I may not be able to urinate on my own until then which means that I will continue to have the super pubic catheter from the bladder until that time. I went to my oncologist Dr. G. in the last week of January 2020 and he stated that I did not have chemo during the radiation because I was too weak. To make matters worse though is that Dr. G. stated that if I had chemotherapy that last Friday in January 2020 that it would kill me. Needless to say I did not have the chemotherapy session.
It is a tribute to my classmates from Fordham Prep (class of 1983) that have supported me every way possible - emotionally, spiritually, financially and every other way possible. Even just a conversation over the phone gives me optimism, hope, ambition and motivation. It is a testimony to strong foundation laid and embedded while at Fordham Prep that I also attribute my classmates coming to my aid and support.
I am a quiet, reserved person and sometimes a little too prideful. I find myself in a dire financial situation since I have not been able to work the past year plus. I have depleted my savings and resources and my spouse has been out of work for the past 3 months. First of all I am asking for all of your prayers (novenas where possible), thoughts and well wishes. Secondly, I am am seeking financial support through the go fund me link below. If you are unable to make a contribution at this point that is perfectly fine and understandable. If you could somehow find it in your heart and budget to make a contribution that would be greatly appreciated.