Anyone who knows Matt Crawford and the Crawford family knows they are kind, simple, giving, and loving. At only 35 years old Matt has been diagnosed with ALK Positive Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALK+ALCL). Those are a lot of words to say just two weeks ago he was very, very sick.

After weeks of persistent coughing spells, difficulty breathing and being dismissed by doctor after doctor, an ER trip to Geisinger at Danville on Monday 9/15 gave them the answers they needed but left their hearts shattered. A repeat CT scan revealed a fist-size mass within his right lung, almost entirely blocking his main right bronchus, causing his right lung to collapse with no safe option to reinflate it until the mass was taken care of. His Oxygen was down to 70% and he was quickly put on a ventilator. While waiting for the official diagnosis Matt was unstable on the ventilator alone so they put him on an ECMO machine (a way to give his lungs rest, similar to dialysis). The team at Danville has since performed lung and bone marrow biopsies, chemotherapy, and radiation, in addition to countless IV medications, and tubes.

The progress Matt has made in the past week is incredible! Within a week of being put on the ventilator Matt was weaned off the sedatives and able to communicate with Morgan through sign language, while still being intubated, astounding the doctors and nurses in the process. As of today, he is now off ECMO and the ventilator, using no oxygen support. The tumor that was once blocking his lung has significantly decreased in size and his lung is reinflating. The cancer is not in his bone marrow, so luckily it was caught early, most likely due to the location of the tumor causing so much difficulty for Matt to breathe.

Despite the amazing progress Matt has made this week, the climb is still not over. After being on the ventilator for so long he will have to ease into eating, working his muscles and regaining his strength, in addition to still having coughing fits as the tumor breaks down. The first round of chemotherapy is complete, but it won't be the last. This all goes to say the Crawford family would be more than deserving of any support anyone is able to give. They are not ones to ask for help and are instead the ones to always lend a hand, but it is now our turn to help them in their time of need. Both Matt and Morgan will be out of work for the foreseeable future as they navigate this diagnosis. And we can't forget to mention their two sweet boys, Connor (5) and Reid (1), who have been anxiously awaiting their Dad (and Mom) to return home. We all know Matt would not ask for anything, but we also know he deserves it!