Our story began on October 2nd, 2015.

A typical Friday evening where the discussion around

the island centered on dinner out? or pizza in? The phone rang and it was our doctor who
had performed our Ive turned 50 routine colonoscopies. Matt had just had his scope 3 days
prior to this, so why would he be calling? I had my colonoscopy two weeks prior and
everything was fine, so why wouldnt Matts? The next 5 minutes changed our world forever.
Matt had 1 large polyp (yes, just one) and it tested positive for Adenocarcinoma. What? Us?
We looked at each other with tears in our eyes. We reached out to each other and hugged for
what had to have been a good 5 minutes (5 minutes is a long time, especially when you feel as
if time is standing still). A tidal wave of emotions swept over us as we held each other tighter
that we ever have. Our thoughts were no longer on where would dinner be, but what do we
do next? How would we tell our children? Our Moms? Our siblings? Our friends? What doctor
do we turn to next? What do we do? Your mind is racing, your heart is beating fast, and the
tears are streaming down your cheeks. The one commonality that Matt and I both hadwe
were going fight this dreaded disease with everything we had! This is where our journey
begins.
October 5th is the day that our life switched to hyper drive and the phone calls began. The
most important call was with Dr. Caligiuri of the James Cancer hospital. After a lengthy
conversation involving many questions, he set us on our path to be connected with two of the
best. Within 20 minutes, we had appointments with Dr. Mark Arnold (our Colorectal Surgeon)
and Dr. Richard Goldberg (our GI Oncologist). Our appointments filled our days with tests,
some new and some repeat but probably more prodding than Matt cares to ever have to deal
with again. At the end of week one, we knew more.the location of Matts tumor was in a
difficult location and it was called Rectal Cancer. Our next step, surgery to remove it. Well,
that was the start of Matts very difficult recovery. In a two week time period, we had many
things to get in order and the main priority was our children. How would they deal with this?
How could we help them while dealing with our own emotions? Let me tell you, this was not
easy! As much as we all like to think that as parents we are the teachers, Matt and I were
taught something very valuable from our children.the true meaning of unconditional love.
Whether it was a Kleenex to wipe a tear, a hug to try to erase the moment, or just being
together laughing at something very unimportant..we knew we were blessed beyond belief
to share this journey together. I dont know if our children will truly ever understand the
gratitude that Matt and I hold in our hearts. Normalcy as we knew it would forever be
changed, but sometimes that is a true blessing.
October 19th at 8:00amthe phone rang again! Dr. Arnolds asst. called and asked if we could
be at the hospital the next day for surgery at 6:45am? (On Friday, October 16th we were
booked for surgery for November 16th). There had been a cancellationcould we do it? Matt
and I were so glad to be able to move this earlier for many reasons, but boy were we scared!
Sometimes when things happen so fast you think that some emotions are able to be
skipped..how we were wrong! Just compile every emotion and throw them into a tail spin
and you have what our life consisted of for the next 30 days.
October 20thSurgery day. On the short drive to OSU, Matt and I talked about everything
under the sun, but most important was the conversation about our love towards each other
and our children. Did we know how difficult the next 30 days were going to be? Did we know

that Matt was going to be in the hospital for 21 of the next 30 days? Did we really understand
the complexity of this surgery? Did I know that I was going to have to be everyones emotional
everything? NO, to all of the above. Throw in the worry about how bad the cancer really
could be..wow, at times almost a little more than one can handle. I did my best to shield
Matt from all of this for he needed to worry about himself and himself only. Surgery entailed
a removal of the tumor by doing an Anastomosis of the rectum. Matts doctor was successful
in performing this surgery without a temporary colostomy, but wow this surgery kicked Matts
butt (literally). Matt spent the next 11 days on the 19th floor of the James where our care was
absolutely above and beyond. The staff (nurses, pcas, dietary, and environmental services)
went above and beyond with their care and compassion. Not only were they concerned about
Matts physical and emotional well-being, but mine as well. Matt and I spent a lot of time
talking about what our future could entail while we waited out the next 10 days for the
results. What was going to be the outcome? We knew that we had zero control.God was in
charge of this one. The only thing we had the ability to control was to put all of our faith and
trust in HIM. No matter the outcome, we were going to fight with every ounce of positivity
that we had in usand the day finally came.
October 29th (the time was 2:37pm to be exact.yes, I will never forget this date and time) Dr.
Arnold came into Matts room. He pulled up a chair right next to Matts bed and we knew he
had the results from Pathology. The words that came out of his mouth next were everything
we truly did not expect to be blessed to hear..all 35 lymph nodes tested negative. They were
successful in removing all of the tumor by the resection and Matt was clear! Matt was Stage I
rectal cancer..almost never caught so soon! We knew at that moment God has a plan for us
and we are going to take the time to figure out how we can share it. Now on the road to
recovery with a discharge the next day, October 30th.
October 30th was an extremely emotional day for us, so blessed to be going home cancer free
and grateful for the treatment that we had just received at the James (we are truly blessed
beyond measure to have this in our back yard!), but scared nonetheless. Matt enjoyed Friday
being home surrounded by his kids and a home cooked meal. Unfortunately, we werent
home for long. This time Matt shielded me from how he really felt physically because I was in
charge of a fund-raising event on Saturday evening. While our girls took care of Matt, I was
gone the entire day on Saturday. Upon returning home Saturday evening, I knew something
was not right. We went to bed and yes, I prayed that this was just a dream and for God to
please look over Matt and help him on the road to being stronger.
November 1st, we woke up and did not get a good vibe. We ended up back at the ER where
Matt was admitted. Matt had a leak where they performed the anastomosis. Not an
uncommon complication, but a very, very serious one nonetheless. Did we know how serious?
No, because I refused to google it! When I did google it, my heart sank. I turned to God again
and asked for him to please give Matt a chance, and once again He answered by having him
turn around. Our surgeon did not want to open Matt up again, and he truly felt this would
heal on his own. Matt was in the hospital this time for 6 days on very intense IV antibiotics.
Once again, his numbers improved and we were released on November 6th. Matt went home
on antibiotics and we were sure this time would be for good! Guess what, God had another
plan. This was not one I agreed with, but once again I had no control!

November 9th and here we go again! I texted our Doctor (who gives their cell phone to their
patient, right?) and told him something was not right with Matt. Temperature was 99.1 and
he was on Tylenol and strong antibiotics. He sent us to get blood drawn, and within 2 hours
we were back in the ER. Matt was really sick and heading in the wrong direction. Started
him on IV antibiotics and admitted him. After scanning Matt, it was determined that he had
an abscess. He needed a drain put in to rid him of the infection. A drain was put in on
Wednesday, November 11th and the drainage out of him was not pretty. Matt was discharged
once again on November 14th, and we prayed that this was finally the day we were home to
stay. Slowly but surely, Matt began to finally make progress and was able to have the drain
removed on November 20! Wow, what an amazing turn around in a couple of days. Would
this really be the day that Matt starts returning to his old self? Would we be able to begin the
new journey back to our normalcy? Would we be able to handle our emotions? Time will tell,
but I have faith in us and faith in God.
Our journey has been a lot in a short amount of time, many details I have not shared for now
they seem unimportant. We wanted everyone to feel a little of our journey, so you will be
proactive about your health. As many of our friends and family approach 50 or have already
passed it, we feel the need to make you all understand that Matts life has truly been saved by
having his routine colonoscopy! If we had prolonged this test, our outcome may not have
been the sameactually, the doctors said it would not have been.
To all of our family and friends, we thank you for your love, support, and especially your
prayers during this incredibly difficult time. We would not have made it through this without
you.and to my rocks (you know who you are), I thank you for everything you did for me
when sometimes to you it seemed like nothing. To Dr. Arnold and his staff, thank you for your
amazing care and compassion. To Justine, Taylor, and Cathyrine on the 19th floor of the James,
thank you for providing the utmost in care to Matt and providing an ear to me when I
needed it the most. To our children Claire, Connor, and Carolinethank you for handling this
with grace! You are 3 amazing children and we are beyond blessed to have had you by our
sides every step of the way.
Now you know a piece of our journey, so please take a step in protecting your health.
Schedule your COLONOSCOPY today.early detection can save your lifeit did save Matts!