“Matt Weber is smiling. And why wouldn’t he be? He’s back at Collegiate, full time, every day, attending class, hanging with friends, doing the stuff a normal 15-year old high school kid takes for granted.
Last year, though, life wasn’t quite so simple. You see, he spent his freshman winter and spring shuttling between home and the VCU Medical Center waging a concerted battle with a fearsome disease called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”
So began the article written by Collegiate teacher and coach, Weldon Bradshaw, on September 11, 2007 about a very special young man I have known since he was 8-years old and the almost-constant playmate of my son, Graham.
When I got word that Matt had been diagnosed on November 15, 2006 with the very disease I have for so many years raised funds for in an effort to find the cure for, it was as if it had happened to my own son and I was devastated. The fact that it came just one month after my own Dad's death from mantle-cell lymphoma...made my heart break just a little bit more.
A parent should never, ever have to hear the words, “Your child has cancer.” Yet, that is just what Matt’s Mom and Dad heard. I dream of a day when no parent...or anyone we love...will ever have to endure the pain of those words.
1 comment:
I want to have the honor to be the first to make a comment on your blog Susan! Matt's story is a great reminder of why we do this. Keep those pedals moving as you head for a Triple Crown!
Art
Post a Comment