I want to take a minute to THANK YOU ALL for your overwhelming support, love, prayers, kindness & generosity! Our family is so appreciative to each & every one of you! My father would be amazed! He is resting peacefully in Riverside Cemetery, in his blue & gold casket with his MC apparel proudly represented! God Bless

Hello everyone, my name is Liana & as many know me as Lia. I am the daughter of Matthew (Matt) Jones. Many know my father as a kind, loving, caring father, husband, friend, & soon to be a grandfather. With having coached his children throughout the years in many sports & continuing with coaching at Malden Catholic for football & softball. The first person I think of when I have any type of question, need a ride, or just wondering what is for dinner I call my father. This man will be there for anyone in a heartbeat no matter how long he will have to wait, what time of the night it is, or what the task is. Many of you know you can count on him. No matter how old or how many times he says his jokes he is always trying to make people laugh. He always told us to be early is to be on time & to be on time is late, he follows this to a tee. Whether it's when dinner is going to be ready or when he is going to be on the field.

On Wednesday, August 9th while out shopping my father had to call 911 & be transported to Melrose Wakefield Hospital. Upon arriving we found out he had suffered from a heart attack & needed to undergo major surgery. He had three major arteries severely blocked. He was moved to Lahey Hospital in Burlington late Thursday night to have triple bypass surgery performed. On Friday he was moved into the ICU & we found out his arrhythmia came back & there was concern, they needed to get his heart beating properly before they could perform the surgery. They had to insert a balloon next to his heart that inflates when the heart relaxes to attempt to get it beating properly. Friday afternoon the balloon was inserted & the surgeon decided to go ahead Saturday morning to have the triple bypass surgery. With the critical condition he was in they had more concern about waiting to perform the surgery than they did for allowing the balloon to fully regulate the blood flow to the heart. Saturday, August 12th came & the surgery went well! He had 3 blockages, one was small so they were able to clip the blockage off. The other 2 arteries were more severe, one was fully blocked and the other was almost fully blocked. They were able to repair all & get his heart functioning to around 50%, whereas before the surgery it was only at 10%. The next day with the balloon still in his AFib came back which caused a small bump in the process so they continued to leave the balloon in until everything looked better. Monday morning his heart improved & by 5 pm that evening he was scheduled to have the balloon removed. Wednesday morning came & we had another setback. Due to all the anesthesia, he got what is called Ileus and he had to have a nose tube inserted to allow his stomach time to “wake up”. The amazing & appreciative man my father is, he wanted to do something special for the nurses and doctors that were taking care of him. Only he would think of something like this with all he is going through but that is just the type of man he is. My mom contacted a good friend of theirs Johnny Floramo & they were able to get a HUGE pan of steak tips, ziti with sauce & a large salad. Throughout the next two days things looked to be improving, following all nurse's orders & taking laps around the unit he was able to have the tubes removed & by Thursday evening he was moved out of the ICU & up to the 6th floor which was the next step before he was able to leave. He was joking, laughing, & even telling us he might be home in 2 days! Friday, August 18th early morning around 6-8 in the morning things took a turn for the worst, we received a call that he had gone into VFib, suffering another major heart attack. He had become unresponsive & they had to perform CPR for over an hour, where they did regain his pulse but still was unresponsive & the doctors informed us the next 24-48 hours were critical & he would be placed back into the ICU. Upon all of his family arriving at the hospital around 10 a.m. walking into the ICU a miracle happened & he woke up and was following commands. We were able to see him open his eyes & shake his head. Doctors & nurses are unaware of what caused this last heart attack & are currently still running lots of tests. He is currently still being supported by a ventilator & is under sedation but they are working on slowly taking him off of everything & fully waking him up within the next few days. Today, Sunday, August 20th his numbers are looking good, he can slightly open his eyes, wiggle his toes & gently squeeze our hands so we are moving in the right direction. My heart broke when Sunday night came and his big heart could no longer take the strain, and he passed away. He had another heart attack and the amazing nurses and doctors at Lahey in Burlington fought so hard to keep it going but his body just couldn't handle it any longer. Anyone that knows my father knows he is the one to worry about every little thing which he passed down to his children. The last thing I want him to worry about is how we are going to be able to pay for this & we just want him to rest in the sweetest of peace. We are trying to take away any stress this may cause if possible. Any little bit would help & be appreciated.