Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations A special request Please UPDATED

I don’t normally ask for this kind of help, especially from strangers, but I/ we need help and hopefully a large mass of people with the same thought in mind will do the trick. My cousin’s son Matt who is 14 is having a very risky brain surgery on Thursday, This will be his second surgery and it is very risky but it is his only hope. They were able shrink the tumor and remove 60% of it but it came back with a vengeance very quickly and has left him unable to walk, with limited eye sight in his right eye and limited speech. This is it! If he doesn’t have the surgery he has very little time and he very well could be paralyzed or die from the surgery, it’s a 2 day procedure and this has been a very difficult time for the family in making the decisions to have the surgery And now they are asking for friends and family to please put Matt in their prayers or have a special thought about Matt depending on your beliefs. Personally I don’t know how they are getting by as both parents have been let go by their employers for having to be gone from work while traveling to so many hospital and getting test and treatments from Chicago to Arkansas and have lost their insurance for him and I don’t think they really care what they have to do as long as they do everything possible for Matt, these are proud people and have asked for nothing but thoughts and prayers for their son! I had hoped for him to get a chance to fish in my pond but this tumor grew back so fast that he didn't get a chance yet.
Matt is into baseball and loves his KC Royals as well as cars like any other 14 yr old would, people have started sending him postcards from all over the place for him to read to occupy his thoughts and time with words of encouragement or just a cool postcard so if you are inclined could you send him a simple postcard? Matt has been a very brave and courageous kid through all this process with a very positive attitude but confided in his uncle that he didn’t think he was going to make it and this just tears me up because he has been so strong all along this journey. The way I understand it is he will be getting test up until his operation on Thursday and would love to have postcards or whatever he can get to read or look at before and after recovery.
I guess he is able to take them at the hospital and if this is not right I will update as soon as I find out for sure.

Thank you for reading this, I really appreciate it

Matt and his family will be staying at a hotel, They dont have a hospital room number yet, his surgery is on Thursday but his family will be staying at hotel

Markham house suite room number 107/108 Bob and Shari Hernan
5120 W, Markham st.
Little Rock AR. 722205-3646
C/O Matt Hernan

Wow! Sorry to hear this. I will definitely keep Matt in my thoughts and spread the word to have as many put him in their prayers as possible. Cancer is a nasty thing! I'll dig up a good post card to send off...

Travis

Will do.

Bob,

I'm so sorry to hear this. Matt will definitely be in my prayers. Please keep us updated on how the surgery goes.

Personal letter sent via mail.

Bob, if you can PM me an address for the parents, I might be able to send some money out to help. Maybe they could get something for Matt.

He'll be in our thoughts and prayers as well. I'll put a postcard in the mail as well. Who's his favorite player on the Royals?

Bob, our thoughts and prayers are with Matt, please keep us posted.

Prayers and thoughts for Matt and his parents in these difficult time are offered.

Matt will be in my prayers, and I'll dig up something for him & get it in the mail today.

Bob, Matt will be in our prayers. My wife, Cathy, and I celebrated the successful removal of her brain tumor last night. I pray that Matt will be doing what Cathy is today, visiting her surgeon for the last time due to a complete recovery!

God bless you and your family Bob!

Bob,

Is Matt at Arkansas Childrens Hospital right now? If so what room number is he in. My church sees people there all the time and prays for them. I could request them to go see him. I may even be able to get over there myself. As I only live about 12 miles from that hospital. Will he be there after his surgery for rehab?

RC

I have sent Zach Greinke (pitcher for the Royals) an email seeing if there's anything they could or would like to do for Matt. I'll let you know if I hear back.

Bob, just sent a little note. He will be in my prayers.
Randy

Matt and family will be in our prayers.

I will find out
Thanks

Omaha the Royals have been out-standing through this and have donated a bunch of stuff for fund raisers and stuff like that, Matt's grandpa works for the Royals as security so he has a personal relationship with them. I think that somebody from the Royals who wished to remain anonymous paid for the air fare for the family for treatments. Matt was able to go down and watch batting practise and got all the guys autographs the other day. It was a very special day for him and the family.

RC51 They made it down yesterday and I am not sure about all the details, His uncle is going to let me know today. Thanks that would be great!

Oh, very cool. They got a ton of good guys in that organization. BP would have been a great experience for the young man.

Omaha
Zach happens to be one of his favorite players and I think he has visited with Matt. I am trying to get the link to work but I think you have to register through the caring bridge site to view it. Not a big deal but not very convenient either
Matt

Let me know if this works for you guys, I am a member so it goes right to it but I dont know about others viewing the site. If it does work check out the photos. good stuff in there!

That is awesome that he's met Greinke. Zach has some pretty, uh, interesting quotes so I'm sure a conversation with him would have been entertaining to say the least. And the link works just fine for me.

My prayers will be with him as well as you and the rest of his family.

We will keep Matt and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Tom&LindaLu

Thanks guys! He is a tough kid and we hear his doc is the best around so we are praying for him as well.

Matt & Zach



What a moment that must have been. I'm looking at the pictures at the link you provided and I am absolutely humbled at the amount of joy this boy gets out of life in spite of his condition. Kudos to you Matt and you can expect a neighborhood of postcards coming your way.

In most organizations you will find good people if you really look, sometimes you will find lots of good people. I am always pleased when a organization comes out and really shines for such a cause.