Matthew holds the keys to our hearts

Being a part of the patient champion stories during the Sunny 95 RadiThon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, we learned about an awesome kiddo named Matthew.  Matthew had his first NeuroCranial Restructuring at 8 months old to begin repairing his rapidly growing, erratic sphenoid bone. He’s had 8 surgeries since then. A chance encounter with a nurse practitioner got Matthew in with Dr. Leonard. A follow up MRI in 2015 revealed an incidental find: a tumor in the front of his corpus callosum that needed prompt surgery. The cancerous tumor has grown back and again Dr. Leonard has removed it. During this time Matthew had a growth spurt and developed scoliosis. He then had ‘growing rods’ inserted and some internal bracing. In just a year Matthew has had 5 big (3 of these unplanned) surgeries. Matthew still has routine monitoring every 3-6 months as the tumor could grow back as he enters puberty and could grow a potentially fetal tumor anywhere there’s a nerve ending.

Not letting his diagnosis stop him, Matthew was recently granted a wish to see his favorite bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge where he was able to help the master locksmith change a high security lock. He even has his name on a plague that he got to place on a piece of the bridge. He likes to play games on his iPad and spend time with his friends. He loves music from the 80’s!

Help Nationwide Children’s unlock the future of more patients like Matthew by making a donation here.