Matthew Soto's life-saving cancer treatment
Donation protected
**Please watch Matthew's video at the end of his story**
When something devasting happens to a loved one it makes you stop and think about life and what’s important – family, love and health. A diagnosis so shocking, numbing. Denial and disbelief take over. My family is facing a true tragedy that can’t be ignored. My brother Matthew Soto has been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. When caught early, the survival rate is nearly 99%. His survival rate is significantly lower than that. https://moffitt.org/cancers/squamous-cell-carcinoma/survival-rate/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20the%20squamous%20cell,of%20surgery%20and%20radiation%20treatment
Sadly, by the time the cancer was discovered it had advanced to stage 4 and had already eroded his lower left mandible and spread to the nearby lymph nodes. How could this be true? Matthew is young, healthy, and full of life.
This past October Matthew started experiencing pain in his lower left jaw. One of his bottom left molars was extracted but the area never fully healed, and a growth began to surface. By February the pain got so intense that he wound up in the emergency room where he spent his birthday weekend. A couple of weeks later Matthew had surgery to remove a bone spur and a biopsy was taken. He was about to begin the hardest time of his life.
On May 13th Matthew had major surgery where they removed his lower left mandible and all the lymph nodes from his jaw to collar bone. The doctors rebuilt his jaw but had complications and surgery lasted nearly 18 hours; 3 times longer than the average surgery.
Matthew has since developed an infection at the surgical site which will prolong his hospital stay and he's now going to have another surgery this Wednesday. If this isn’t bad enough, in about 6 to 8 weeks he will start daily radiation and weekly chemo. His doctor has warned him that the worst is yet to come.
Regardless, Matthew has been incredibly strong and optimistic. He is the rock that our family has depended on to get through just one more day of HIS nightmare. It’s difficult to relate if you haven’t experienced such a catastrophic life event, but getting cancer not only destroys your health, it also destroys your financial wellbeing. As it is, traditional insurance coverage has gotten so terrible and pathetic, but if you can believe it, cobra insurance coverage is even worse. This is the impossible position where Matthew finds himself.
Matthew was forced to take a leave of absence from work which leaves him with only 60% of his income. His monthly cobra payment is $759 and of course he still must pay his regular monthly bills and rent. Now the dreaded medical bills have started to come in and they are astronomical.
Matthew is going through the most difficult and vulnerable time of his life. Asking for help doesn’t come easy, but life is unpredictable and very few of us can afford such a critical financial set back such as the cost of cancer treatment.
I am asking you to help Matthew manage his financial situation while he continues to fight for his health and his life. Please everyone, any donation would be a godsend. I’m also asking that everyone please keep Matthew in your prayers. The power of prayer has gotten him this far and God will be carrying him through his journey.
I will be posting updates on his recovery and details about how your donations are being used. On behalf of Matthew and our family, we thank everyone for their generosity and support.
Sincerely,
Jessica Streeter
When something devasting happens to a loved one it makes you stop and think about life and what’s important – family, love and health. A diagnosis so shocking, numbing. Denial and disbelief take over. My family is facing a true tragedy that can’t be ignored. My brother Matthew Soto has been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. When caught early, the survival rate is nearly 99%. His survival rate is significantly lower than that. https://moffitt.org/cancers/squamous-cell-carcinoma/survival-rate/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20the%20squamous%20cell,of%20surgery%20and%20radiation%20treatment
Sadly, by the time the cancer was discovered it had advanced to stage 4 and had already eroded his lower left mandible and spread to the nearby lymph nodes. How could this be true? Matthew is young, healthy, and full of life.
This past October Matthew started experiencing pain in his lower left jaw. One of his bottom left molars was extracted but the area never fully healed, and a growth began to surface. By February the pain got so intense that he wound up in the emergency room where he spent his birthday weekend. A couple of weeks later Matthew had surgery to remove a bone spur and a biopsy was taken. He was about to begin the hardest time of his life.
On May 13th Matthew had major surgery where they removed his lower left mandible and all the lymph nodes from his jaw to collar bone. The doctors rebuilt his jaw but had complications and surgery lasted nearly 18 hours; 3 times longer than the average surgery.
Matthew has since developed an infection at the surgical site which will prolong his hospital stay and he's now going to have another surgery this Wednesday. If this isn’t bad enough, in about 6 to 8 weeks he will start daily radiation and weekly chemo. His doctor has warned him that the worst is yet to come.
Regardless, Matthew has been incredibly strong and optimistic. He is the rock that our family has depended on to get through just one more day of HIS nightmare. It’s difficult to relate if you haven’t experienced such a catastrophic life event, but getting cancer not only destroys your health, it also destroys your financial wellbeing. As it is, traditional insurance coverage has gotten so terrible and pathetic, but if you can believe it, cobra insurance coverage is even worse. This is the impossible position where Matthew finds himself.
Matthew was forced to take a leave of absence from work which leaves him with only 60% of his income. His monthly cobra payment is $759 and of course he still must pay his regular monthly bills and rent. Now the dreaded medical bills have started to come in and they are astronomical.
Matthew is going through the most difficult and vulnerable time of his life. Asking for help doesn’t come easy, but life is unpredictable and very few of us can afford such a critical financial set back such as the cost of cancer treatment.
I am asking you to help Matthew manage his financial situation while he continues to fight for his health and his life. Please everyone, any donation would be a godsend. I’m also asking that everyone please keep Matthew in your prayers. The power of prayer has gotten him this far and God will be carrying him through his journey.
I will be posting updates on his recovery and details about how your donations are being used. On behalf of Matthew and our family, we thank everyone for their generosity and support.
Sincerely,
Jessica Streeter
Organizer and beneficiary
David Streeter
Organizer
San Antonio, TX
Matthew Soto
Beneficiary