Matt's Fight Against Aggressive Brain Cancer

Help Matt Fight His Aggressive Brain Cancer, #LiveLongMatt #EffOffBrainCancer

Your support can help provide life-saving research & allow this young Dad to watch his boys grow up.

This is our dear friend, Matt Coleman, with his wife Jodi and their beautiful twin boys, Sam & Aiden. Matt is a dedicated and loving husband and father with strong family values. Before we tell you about how much we need you to support him & his family, let us tell you a little bit more about this incredibly special person.

For many years, Matt was a Wall Street Trader before making a career change to become a Financial Planner. This career change allowed him to be closer to home and fulfill his passion to be able to coach his sons’ baseball & basketball teams and be an active and engaged member of the community. 

The four of them, along with their dog, Shandy were the picture of a young, fun loving family. In seemingly perfect health, Matt was a triathlete and a role model of healthy living. 

Like for any of us, life was good but not without its fair share of struggles. Excited to be carrying twins, Jodi delivered their boys prematurely which was followed by 2 months in the NICU before finally going home. Their premature birth led to health issues and in recent years, one of the boys was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, complicated further with severe OCD, while their other son suffers from an anxiety disorder. Hand in hand, Matt & Jodi supported one another and put all their love into raising Sam and Aiden.

Rocked by another health crisis, Matt stood by Jodi’s side five years ago, when it was discovered that she had Schwanomma, a terrifying-but benign tumor blocking her nasal cavity and airway. Jodi’s surgery was complex and the recovery painful, but through it all they persevered.

Throughout the years Matt & Jodi have battled countless obstacles and worked tirelessly to make sure that their boys received the resources they needed to thrive, always with gratitude and a positive outlook. They cherished nothing more than doing simple things like hiking with their dog Shandy, Friday night movies, playing board games and going on sweet family adventures.




Nothing could have prepared them for what would happen on March 20, 2018. That morning, Matt suffered a Grand Mal seizure shortly after arriving at work.  He was rushed to the hospital where a CT scan was immediately performed. 

The scan revealed a golf ball sized lesion on his left frontal lobe. Matt was rushed in for an emergency Craniotomy. Doctors had to remove part of his skull to reach the mass in an effort to remove as much of the tumor as possible. In many ways, the surgery was considered a success. They were able to perform the resection with  “minimal” damage to the surrounding tissue, reattached his skull and stapled him together. After an excruciating 6 hour surgery, the collection of family and friends, dealing with the shock,  were simply told to wait. Matt has very little memory of the entire ordeal but can clearly remember Jodi begging him, “please don’t leave me” as he was wheeled into surgery. 



This is what we know now. Matt has brain cancer.  A week after that fateful day, the Colemans received the diagnosis. He has an aggressive and incurable form of cancer called an AA3 (Anaplastic Astrocytoma, astro, meaning star shape). This type of brain cancer belongs to the broader category known as Gliomas. With this massive tumor sitting on his left frontal lobe it had been affecting his personality, movement, memory, problem solving and other executive function abilities. Although the mass was removed, it was explained to them that this tumor had star like (or tentacle) extensions which attach themselves to the healthy brain tissue.  They were already spread throughout his brain which, unfortunately, means the cancer will recur and bring with it more tumors. 



Back in the hospital after his surgery, Matt was unable to walk or talk and, frankly,  there was no way of knowing how fully he would be able to recover.  At the time, Matt was unable to understand what had happened and the severity of his situation. 

At just 10 years old, Sam and Aiden were suddenly tasked with understanding that their once healthy father would return home as someone that would be almost unrecognizable. He would need to learn basic functions like walking and talking.


Matt’s condition made it impossible for him to return to his job, but he immediately went to work on his recovery with unwavering determination.  He has spent countless hours at physical and cognitive therapy to help him recover and gain back as much strength and brain function as possible. Following that, he endured 6 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, followed by 9 months of oral chemotherapy (the typical treatment protocol for this cancer). 



Unfortunately, Matt experienced a setback during his treatment. Fluid that had been building on his brain caused him to have more seizures. The most frightening of which was one that happened in front of the boys at a restaurant during a family celebration.

The aftermath was that Matt was brought back to the hospital where they discovered  more surgery was required to drain the fluid from his brain. After several emotionally draining weeks and nervous hand-wringing, Matt returned home...only to have their beloved dog, Shandy, pass away. For anyone else, this would have been too much. But our Matt is a warrior.


(The image on the right side shows fluid build up squishing his brain to the left side. The image on the left shows the brain bounce back after fluid was drained)

Matt is A Warrior

A year later, Matt still struggles with compromised cognitive function, which means it is impossible for him to work. Financially, this has been hard on the family, leaving them with limited resources.  However, they continue to rise above these obstacles and battle courageously, with Matt continuing to serve as a role model for his family.  

Never giving up, Matt gives everything he can to be the best version of himself, and in so doing, is a role model to his sons, showing them what true grit and perseverance look like.  Recently, Matt was able to complete two different bike races, one with a 40 mile course and the other at 62.  These accomplishments left his family & friends overwhelmed with joy and in tears seeing how strong he is, inside and out.

Unfortunately,  it is never far from anyone’s mind that Matt has an aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer. Doctors will continue to scan his brain every 3 months, knowing that the tumors will ultimately return. It is the equivalent of a death sentence, and although he will receive radiation and chemotherapy until they are rendered useless, the science indicates that the cancer will ultimately win. When pressed, the medical prognosis does not bode well for him to be able to watch his sons graduate from High School. It is heartbreaking and maddening...but this is where you can make a true difference...


(Aiden on the left, Sam on the right )

Hope for Matt

Show of hands...who hates cancer? One more time...show of hands, who is sick of waiting for a cure? Hope for Matt means the pursuit of all available options, many of which are not available in this country. Matt is unwilling to sit back and wait for the cancer to take over, not when there are very promising treatment options available. Peptides have now been discovered outside of the United States, and are considered as a crucial element in increasing the survival rate of brain cancer patients.  

Incredibly, Matt is a candidate for a personal peptide, a form of an immunotherapy vaccine that would be created out of actual pieces of Matt’s brain tumor. This vaccine will literally re-train Matt’s immune system to learn how to fight his specific cancer. Unfortunately, this cutting edge science is not currently available in America. 

The horrifying reality is that he could die before it might save his life. It will simply take too long for it to receive the green light as a form of treatment in the United States. The hard truth is that Matt’s cancer type is so rare that it is not commonly trialed and doesn’t get much recognition for funding or research. 


(This image shows how each cancer cell attaches itself to surrounding tissue. Matt can help his body fight these cells by using the personal peptide)

The encouraging news is that studies have shown great outcomes using a personal peptide protocol. Matt is now the healthiest he has been since his diagnosis, which is why it is critical that he receive this vaccine as soon as possible. If done in a timely manner, it will reset his immune system and give it the weapons needed to attack the tumor cells once they start multiplying rapidly again. 

Having fully investigated each and every piece of research available, Jodi and Matt are working closely with a German-based doctor and facility to provide him with this incredibly radical and important advancement in the fight against cancer. If they could, they would have been their yesterday. Their hope is to have the funding and resources to get there as soon as possible. 

Health issues are never cheap and this is no exception. Already strained financially, you can only imagine the expenses for this treatment, not to mention that travel and lodging will be astronomical. It goes without saying that Insurance will not cover any of this and the only income the Colemans currently have is Matt’s disability insurance. Jodi has been consumed with the realities of having a husband with a fatal form of brain cancer. The endless hours of scheduling and attending doctors’ appointments. The full-time job of dealing with the insurance companies and disability benefits.  To compound matters, she spends countless hours each week navigating the boys' special needs. Jodi is stretched beyond comprehension simply trying to hold her family together.

If you are reading this and want to make a difference in how future cancers are cured, this is your chance… and if you have continued to read this, you can already understand why Matt and Jodi are truly in need of your help and deserving in every way.

PLEASE, help Matt gain more time with his family. Help Matt to be here for the milestones in his boys lives, to celebrate more anniversaries with his wife and watch more seasons of his life with family and friends. Don’t think, donate. Help Sam & Aiden get one step closer to having their dad smile proudly at their high school graduation.

Thank you for considering a donation. If a financial contribution isn’t possible, please pass this on and share on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram using the Hashtags  #LiveLongMatt  #EffOffBrainCancer

Sincerely,

The Loving Tribe of Matt Coleman & Family