A STORY OF SURVIVAL: MY BROTHER, MATTHEW SMITH

Did you know that a child Leukemia cancer survivor in the 1980s had less than a 15% chance of survival? My brother Matthew is a Leukemia survivor. This was the first time Matthew showed his fight, will to live, and desire to help others as he was saved by strangers in the medical field.

As an adult in his early 20s, Matthew put his life on hold to assist our mother as she cared for our father, who was fighting for his life due to complications from his Type 1 Diabetes. Our father’s battle lasted over a decade, during which Matthew never complained nor hesitated to do what he could to care for and assist our family.

After our father’s passing in 2001, Matthew continued to assist our mother to make sure her life was on track and taken care of in this time of mourning. As our mother healed over time, Matthew had dreamed of starting his own family, and to do so would be to go out on his own after years of service to our mother and father.

Fast forward to present day and we land on June 6th, 2024, which was a dark day for Matthew and his family. In the afternoon of that day, Matthew suffered a brain stroke while driving home. With the grace of God, Matthew was able to park his car without any accidents to others around him. With the assistance of Gilbert PD and his wife Carmen, they were able to track his phone and get emergency services there immediately.

This day was filled with miracles as the emergency service team was able to get him to the nearest hospital in minutes during rush hour traffic. The hospital staff quickly assessed that Matthew required experts in the field of brain strokes; therefore, he was urgently airlifted to St. Joe’s Hospital in downtown Phoenix. Here he received care from some of the best neuro physicians in the country. All this was so critical to Matthew’s survival as the brain bleed was progressing and soon would become fatal. Thank you to all who saved his life that day; we can never repay you, but we honor you daily with our prayers.

We are now at another crucial turning point in Matthew's healing. Just three months after fighting for his life again, Matthew's company has dropped his health insurance, pushing him and his family to Cobra coverage at an unaffordable price. Through exhausting work by his family, Matthew was granted short-term disability, only to lose it after 5 weeks due to unconventional practices from the short-term disability carrier. At this time, only Matthew's wife's income as a special education paraprofessional and their 18-year-old son's hourly wages are contributing to the bills. We are asking for your help and generosity in donating towards Matthew's extensive medical healing plan.

We thank you in advance for your generosity and prayers. Matthew and his family hold deep gratitude to all donors for any contribution that they can share. All donations will be directed to paying Matthew's Cobra insurance, copays (both current and future visits to Barrow and other primary physicians), any accrued medical bills from St. Joe's and his rehabilitation center, and the expenses of shelter, transportation, and foods costs for Matthew's family.

Please read on if you'd like to hear Matthew's wife Carmen share more about their beautiful journey together and this season's current struggles.

Matthew and I met in the spring of 2003 and quickly realized that although we had completely diverse backgrounds, we shared the same goals and dreams. By February 2004, we committed to building a life together by getting married, and soon after, we embarked on the journey of starting a family. It did not come easy for us but thankfully we were granted the joy of being parents. His boundless dedication and vision for our future fueled our efforts, and together we created a home filled with love and purpose.

Matthew fulfilled his dream of having a family with the birth of his eldest son, Andrew. Soon to follow his second son, Nicholas. Both have been raised with the highest of morals, work ethic and compassion to help others in times of need just like their father. Andrew, a recent high school graduate, has begun his career exploring trades and is now working for a commercial HVAC company. Nicholas is a junior with aspirations of being a photographer and an entrepreneur. These boys are the world to us, therefore we are there for everything involving our children and often volunteer in any capacity that is necessary.

As we navigated the joys and challenges of life, our mutual respect and unwavering support for one another laid a solid foundation for everything life has brought us to. Even now, as we face these unforeseen and challenging turns of events as Matthew is starting his recovery journey, his resilience and the strength of his love have remained undiminished. This life-changing event has tested us in ways we never anticipated, but it has also revealed the depth of his courage and hardworking nature. He is determined to overcome all the life altering challenges the stroke has left and, with the support of family and friends, I genuinely believe it is possible.

Beyond the immediate challenges he is dealing with, we know the financial strain due to him not being able to work will start to be noticed. We forsee as our funds diminish, we will be asked to grapple with the reality of a tremendous loss of income and mounting expenses.  Especially now that his short-term disability claim was inadvertently closed, and our family insurance benefits have come to a stop.

Matthew spent 21 days in the Barrow Neurological Institute ICU, then three days in the Barrow post recovery floor. He was then transferred to an acute inpatient rehab center where he spent seven days before being discharged. Finally, after an entire month away, Matthew was reunited with his whole family at home.

The stroke Matthew suffered from was centered in the thalamus region of the brain that controls our cognitive abilities. During his stay in the ICU, he relearned how to swallow, talk, eat, and walk while battling memory loss and a severe deficit in his executive functions. Through our family's help of taking care of our two boys, I was able to stay alongside Matthew during his entire hospital and rehab stay to help him recover. This was a no brainer for me, given the sacrifices Matthew has made to help his family and friends unconditionally throughout his life.

Currently Matthew is striving to gain home/community independence and eventually get back to work. Matthew has been putting forth 110% effort tackling all that the doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute can throw at him. He has been accepted to attend the Center for Transitional Neuro-Rehabilitation program due to his desire to return to work as soon as possible. However, with all his progress, comes setbacks and challenges. The current setbacks are regarding his employer and the short-term/long-term disability insurance carrier.

Matthew graduated from ITT Technical Institute at the age of 19 and since then he has worked at the same company now for 31 plus years. Unfortunately, 90 days after his incident, his company decided to drop his health insurance, which has pushed Matthew and our family to Cobra at an unaffordable price. Due to Matthew’s complex medical needs, the only option for our family is to carry Matthew on the Cobra coverage, while the boys and I will go without health insurance for now.

Please know Matthew and I truly appreciate all you are able to do for our family. By reading his story, sharing our gofundme page with others, and offering support, we are truly grateful for your contribution and assistance with this healing season. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your generosity, prayers, and kindness.