Gloyd’s Cure

Well…April 10^th marked the one-year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis and after two follow-up appointments with the oncologist, my tumor markers are considered “un-measurable” and all scans have come back “clear”…thus, STILL CANCER FREE!

I’m currently wrapping up my 1^st year of PT school at NAU. My initial concern when returning to Flagstaff was joining a brand new class of nearly 50 students who had already spent a semester together, but after just one week, I felt very comfortable and welcomed. I’ve already developed great friendships and enjoy spending time with everyone. I’m definitely going to miss all my 2^nd year pals when they move onto their internships next spring, but I’ll always remember their support and fond moments we spent together.  However, I plan on seeing most of them in Tucson and Phoenix, down the road (literally). Also, looking forward to our upcoming and highly anticipated game of “Slosh Ball”… Bring on the madness!!

I’ve taken a new outlook on life and I must say I’ve never felt more positive and uplifted than I do now.  I rarely feel stressed, upset, or take matters too seriously. I attribute all these new qualities to the support I continue to receive from Allison, family and friends all over the country. I’ve been inspired ever since this website was developed back in April of last year, by my U of A buddies (a.k.a. Sigma Wu). The website and wristbands remind me of how fortunate I am to be surrounded by so many great people.

This experience has really turned out to be a “Blessing in Disguise!”

-Matt

Here are some recent pics:

Diamondbacks game w/ Allison...

Friends & Family,
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.  I’m feeling as well as I ever have despite a few glitches here and there.  I have a doctor’s appointment next week to make sure no setbacks have occurred.  The last few weeks I’ve been traveling quite a bit, visiting friends all over the place.  Spent some time in Tucson for Homecoming, San Francisco for the UA-Cal football game, Phoenix, and Oklahoma.  I’m very grateful for the opportunity to travel so much and see old friends who have been supporting me throughout my course of treatment.  If you would’ve told me I’d be playing basketball and traveling 6 months post-diagnosis, I would think you were crazy.  Very excited to be healthy again!

-Matt

Here are some pics from the last few weeks…

Last week, my NAU classmates and I got together for a wristband cutting celebration followed by the PT School Halloween party over the weekend.  This was a great opportunity to catch up with my old buddies and future classmates as well.  There was an abundance of hugs and camera posing going on, and I enjoyed every minute of it!  It was very comforting to get such a warm welcome from a group of people that I respect and appreciate so much.

Lance Armstrong (me) made an appearance to the Halloween party and he happened to be wearing skin-tight blue spandex shorts.  The 1st and 2nd year students competed for best costume and dance prizes, which added a little spice to the party.  Meeting some of my new classmates was fun and it looks like I’m going to be in very good company next spring. 

The next stop is Tucson for our Univ. of Arizona Homecoming. This highly anticipated weekend will be another great opportunity to reunite with my undergrad pals (Sigma Wu) and cut more wristbands.  Hopefully this year I won’t end up on the goalpost for another potential celebration!

Thanks to my NAU classmates for a special welcome back to Flag.
-Matt

Wristband Cutting at Charlie's in Flagstaff, AZ

Poster from My NAU classmates

Dear Family and Friends,

Matt and his parents attended his doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  It was good to see Dr. Lauer, the first time since Matt’s abdominal surgery nearly two months ago.  Dr. Lauer was obviously pleased with how well Matt has been doing and told us, that as far as he was concerned, Matt was in “complete remission”.

The beta HCG tumor marker was again “2” today (same value as of Sep 28^th).  Dr. Lauer reassured us that the “2” is essentially “zero”, because that lab test picks up spurious cross-reacting proteins in the body.  After the intrusion of the chemotherapy and surgery, Matt’s body has good reason for still having spurious proteins around.

For the next several years, Dr. Lauer will continue to see Matt every two to three months.  Now Matt is preparing for his January return to the NAU post-graduate physical therapy program.

Salud,

Bill and Susan

Dear Family and Friends,

Almost five weeks have passed since my abdominal surgery in Indiana and I’m still recovering, very slowly but everyday is progress.  Last Thursday was the first time I felt well enough to leave the house so my Mom and I went suit shopping for an upcoming wedding.  After trying on clothes for the span of a few hours, my back fatigued and I started to have severe abdominal pain.  Well, I ended up going to the ER the next morning after sleeping in the fetal position all night.  Luckily the pain diminished significantly and I returned home.  We came to the conclusion that the pain might have been due to simply overdoing it…so now I’m back to “House Arrest”. 

My lab results arrived Tuesday and the news was very encouraging.  Since Indiana, my tumor markers (beta HCG) went from 11 to 4, and now “2”.  The markers were as high as 225, 000 so we’ve come a very long way since the diagnosis and I couldn’t’ be more relieved.  This means the chemotherapy and surgical procedures were completely successful and the cancer cells should be long gone. 

Although this has been a very slow recovery process, I’ve really enjoyed spending quality time with the family and watching sports, so I can’t complain.  Yesterday, my Niece Selah and I displayed our support for our favorite MLB team by wearing matching Phillies jerseys…and purple wristbands.  Thanks to the Philly Fanatics, they ended up clinching the division for the third straight time… bring on the PLAYOFFS!!

Always appreciate your love and encouragement,
-Matt

Matt and Niece Selah watching the Phillies!

Thanks to Amber Gerulf, one of Matt’s NAU classmates, for sending us these great wristband pics.

Amber's Family in Okinawa, Japan

Megan, Alicia & Amber in Tucson

I received the following pic and email from Tal Margalit, and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share it within everyone following Matt’s recovery. Tal, thanks for the great email and ordering a boat load of wristbands to show your support.

MMR (McDowell Mountain Ranch) Basketball Crew

Full size image here.

Michael,

My name is, Tal Margalit, and I have met Matt on the basketball court at one of our tournaments. Even though we only had a short time to be around Matt, we all felt a good connection and hoped to see him on the court every Sunday or atleast for each tournament.

We had a our quarterly tournament this Sunday and we all wished for Matt’s painless and quick recovery. After reading his last post, it seems that our wishes my come true.

I just wanted to share this photo with Matt and I hope it could make him think about making a quick return to our tournament and basketball court.

Please wish Matt a quick recovery and let him know that he his in our thoughts and prayers.

Thanks,

Taj Margalit

Thanks to Kirk Jacobson, one of Matt’s friends from UofA, for sending us these awesome wristband pics.

Matt & Kirk

Kirk's Youth Mission Members with Matt

We're In This Together

Kirk at Shiprock Mountain

An Update from Bill, written yesterday…

Dear Family and Friends,
 
It has been a great day for Matt.  A few minutes ago he walked from one end of 6th floor wing to the other (about 700 feet).  Incidentally, Matt’s on the same floor that Lance Armstrong was on when he had his brain surgery, some ten years ago.
 
Allison, Katie and her Matt just left after a fun weekend together, much of it in Matt’s hospital room watching him gradually wean himself from his tubes and pain meds.  Grandpa Danny, Aunt Linda and Cousin Nykko are still here entertaining Matt.  They arrived last evening and will drive back to Philadelphia tomorrow morning.
 
Two pearls of information have made us all very happy.  One, the official pathology report describing the surgical specimens (from retroperitoneal lymph node and liver tumor removal) revealed 100% necrotic (dead) cancer tissue.  Typically metastases in the lung are identical to those in the lymph nodes.  Therefore, there is no reason to believe that there is any viable tumor cells left.  Any surgical procedure to remove cancer in the lungs is now unnecessary.  The other pearl is that the beta HCG (tumor marker) from yesterday’s lab revealed the level of 4.  We are still looking for “zero”, but all indications are that Matt has beaten this cancer.
 
Thanks for all of your wonderful support.
 
Love,
 
Bill and Susan.