Survivor Spotlight: JOANNE D'ALTON : Breast Cancer Survivor
Summer, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: FRANK YINKO : Colon Cancer Survivor
April, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: NANCY LAARMAN : Ovarian Cancer Survivor
January, 2007

Survivor Spotlight on MIKE LEMAHIEU : Colon Cancer Survivor (with liver metastisis)
December, 2006

Survivor Spotlight on MARY LICHTERMAN : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: JIM HAMMERLING : Multiple Myeloma Survivor
July, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: LORI SCHULTZ : Breast Cancer Survivor
May, 2006

Survivor Spotlight Update: BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
May, 2006

Survivor Spotlight on MATT RILEY : Medullablastoma Cancer Survivor
December, 2005
Note from Tim: When I first met Matt he was still too young to drive. That was more than 5 years ago. We scheduled this interview on a weekend because now he is in his third year of studies at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. In some ways Matt is just like so many other young adults; he loves his car, he has youthful energy and enthusiasm, and he has high hopes for his future! But in ways that most would never know, he is quite different. To say that Matt “suffers” from side effects of cancer treatment, I think, would be inaccurate. Knowing Matt as I do, I don’t think he allows himself to “suffer” from anything. He has learned at a very early age that just to be alive is a grand and miraculous experience. If you have been saving aluminum can tabs and dropping them off at the clinic please know that your efforts have gone to help the very same camp that Matt has been attending since 1998!

In the Dark

In seventh grade I started getting horrible headaches. They were so bad I would get up in the middle of the night and vomit. I’d be fine the next morning and go to school but I’d still have a headache. I’d come home and start the routine over again. Then I started losing my vision. I remember sitting on the couch and my dad called me. I got up and everything went black. My parents asked, “Matt, why are you just standing there?” I told them, “Well, I can’t see right now… but it will be fine in a minute or two.”

My parents made an appointment with my pediatrician who ordered a CT scan. The doctor didn’t find anything. My mom knew something was wrong so she convinced him that I should see a neurologist. Before she could call to make the appointment my pediatrician had called the neurologist and said that this was “just some neurotic mom” and he shouldn’t go out of his way for us. Thankfully, the neurologist saw us the next day. He took one look at the scan, left the room, and came back five minutes later and said, “You have a bed waiting for you at Children’s Hospital… you need to go there now!”

When we got to Children’s we met with the pediatric neurologist who asked, “What the %#&@ took you two weeks to get down here with a scan like this.” Apparently, the pediatrician had misread the scan and missed a lemon-sized tumor on my brain. After spending the night on IVs to reduce the swelling in my brain I went in for ten hours of brain surgery and was diagnosed with medulloblastoma.

A Year of Treatment

After surgery I went back to Children’s every day for radiation to my brain along with small doses of chemotherapy. They gave me about a month to recover before they started the heavy-duty chemo that included three weeks of chemotherapy followed by three weeks of recovery. This went on for about a year. I don’t remember all of the details. My pediatric oncologist believes in sparing her patients as much pain as she can. So she put me on medications that made me feel good and kept me from getting sick. It worked! But some of the time is pretty blurry.

I missed most of 7th and 8th grade but I worked with a tutor and kept up with my studies so I could graduate along with my class. I also stayed active in Boy Scouts. In fact, I earned just as many merit badges on chemotherapy as I did previously. My doctor told me that I could do anything I wanted as long as she could land her helicopter (Flight for Life) nearby. She told me, “If you want to go to Boy Scout Camp, that’s fine as long as they have a nice open field for me to land my helicopter!”

A Normal Childhood

Neither my mom nor my dad ever babied me. They never really said that I couldn’t do things because of my cancer and even encouraged me to live as normal of a life as I could, both during chemotherapy and after. They didn’t let me slack off with my studies either. They worried about me and they did everything they could for me… but I also think that there were times that they were glad to see me get out of the house (ha-ha)!

To be honest, I think what really kept me so interested and active in Boy Scouts is that it was my chance to be with my friends. It was good to learn some things but this was really my only time with my friends. I couldn’t help but feel “different.” I mean I was the only bald kid in town! A lot of my friends looked at me differently after that. They couldn’t understand what I was going through… and I guess I didn’t expect them to. They haven’t had cancer. Some of my friends avoided me.

Survivor Camp

The social worker at Children’s told me about a summer camp for kids with cancer. My mom told the lady she was crazy. “My son has brain cancer and is in the middle of chemo… how can he go to summer camp for two weeks?” But she assured my mom that they take good care of everyone. So, the summer of ’98 I went to the One Step At A Time Summer Camp for the first time… and have gone back every year since! The first year my mom got a call telling her I needed platelets. She figured she’d have to come down and get me but they told her, “We’ll take care of everything.” I was out horseback riding and one of the counselors told me, “Matt, you need to get platelets.” My doctor, who was actually working at camp that week, drove me to Children’s. I got my platelets and she brought me back to camp... and life at camp went on!

Most of the people at camp have or have had cancer so we just have a better understanding of what each other is going through or have been through. I guess in a lot of ways I couldn’t relate all that well with my friends at school and they couldn’t relate all that well to me. So I was able to build my strongest friendships with the kids at camp because we have so much more in common. It’s like a second family… and not just for me but for my sisters and my parents as well. You see, both my sisters have gone to camp and my mom is a regular volunteer counselor. The entire camp is made up of volunteers.

I have made a lot of friends through camp and there are those that have passed away from their cancer. That’s hard. There are times when I start questioning, “What if my cancer comes back?” or think, “That could have been me!” I feel sad, but I can’t let myself dwell on that.

A Body Changed by Cancer:

Because I was so young and my body was still developing the chemotherapy and radiation have caused substantial residual side effects. My growth has been stunted and I’m going to be shorter throughout my life. I’m 5’ 3” and I’m comfortable with that. I’ve had some neurological effects that include “speed of processing” issues which basically means if you set me up with someone in my grade and give us both a test it will take me longer to finish it because my brain works a little slower. I also have a lot of short-term memory problems. My doctor explained it by comparing my brain to a filing cabinet. Every time we learn something new it is like adding another file to that filing cabinet. But I can’t make new files as easily as other people can. It’s much easier for me to add to the files that already exist. For example, I can expand on my math ability because I already have a math file. But when it comes to learning something totally new, something that I don’t already have a “file” for, it’s more difficult. That’s what makes things like history difficult for me to learn. The chemo and radiation has damaged my kidneys so they don’t function properly. I’ve had heart problems and lung problems but they have seemed to subside. There has been damage to my pituatary gland and I will need to be on supplements for the rest of my life and I have to take extra precautions if I hurt or injure myself. I still take about a dozen meds every day, but they’re keeping me alive and keeping me happy so I won’t complain.

I call radiation “the gift that keeps on giving!” (Matt says with a smile.) I’ve been having a lot of shoulder pain and the doctors have finally figured out what it is. The nerve connections in my shoulder muscles got damaged from the radiation so now they keep firing and that causes pain. I get botox injections in my shoulder… my BEAUTIFUL shoulder (ha-ha)… and that helps. My doctor thinks I may gradually lose most of the mobility in my arm. I’m not too worried about it!

I am currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where they have a Center for Students with Disabilities where I can get all sorts of services. They provide me with a “note taker” in my classes for days when I’m not feeling too good and have hard time taking notes. I get tutors that help me when I am having problems. And I am given extended test time during exams.

I really don’t worry about the future. I remember a quote that said, “Live life for today because God doesn’t always grant you a tomorrow.” I try to do what I can today because who knows if we’re going to be around tomorrow. My highest priority right now with regard to the future is graduating college with a degree in I.T.I. (Information Technology Infrastructure). I have been interested in computers ever since I was a kid so, getting back to the “filing cabinet” theory, I already have a file for computers and I’ve been expanding on my knowledge in that file. After that, I don’t worry about it… things will work out.

Wise Words from a Young Mind:

Some of my friends get so concerned over the little things. Things like, “My car won’t start today!” Well, get it fixed and you’ll be fine! I guess cancer has put these kinds of things in perspective for me. Most people my age might think about a grandparent or an older relative that might have died from cancer. So maybe when they see me I can put cancer in a little different light and they will realize that even though cancer is a terrible thing it can be beat and there are a lot of people living with it. Even if the cancer is not curable there are things you can do to be happy. There are a lot of people out there that have a hard time relaxing, having a good time, and being happy. Part of my happiness comes naturally to me… but part of my happiness is something that I have to work on. I was raised in a very happy and positive environment but I have to work at keeping the attitude I have. I could change my attitude immediately from being happy to being unhappy just by focusing more on the bad things in life that happen to me or to other people.

There are times I start feeling sorry for myself. I think we all do. But then I start going downhill. I might say to myself, “Yeah, I had cancer!” or “Yeah, I still have a lot of problems!” But then I have to just tell myself, “Get over it!” I have to accept it and move on. That’s usually when I try to do something fun with my family or my friends. I’m not talking about going out, getting drunk, and passing out but doing something that really makes me feel good inside and brings a smile to my face. When I keep myself busy and concentrate on what I am doing I don’t have time to worry about bad things.

Keeping a positive attitude isn’t always easy but it can change your life and the lives of the people around you. If people aren’t as happy or as positive as they want to be, they can change. It may take a little work, but they can change. And it seems to me that the more we focus on the positives the better life gets. Why would anyone NOT want to be more positive? I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone! It’s a terrible thing! But “through cancer” I have had a lot of good experiences. There’s camp every summer. I went on a ski trip with other campers for a week on the slopes of Utah where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. I went with a group of kids who had cancer from Wisconsin and Illinois on a “Dream Flight” to Florida where we visited DisneyLand and other theme parks. I was involved in “Hunt of a Lifetime” and went hunting in South Carolina. These are all things that, well, they don’t make me glad that I had cancer but they are experiences that I appreciate and that have made me feel better. But the greatest blessing of cancer has been the people I have met and the friendships I have developed, especially through camp.

I’m glad that there aren’t more people my age that have been through cancer… but it makes it difficult for me because, other than the people I have met through camp, it’s hard to find someone to talk to about cancer that can relate. Most cancer patients are older. So I am trying to put together a Young Adult Oncology Group that meets on the second Tuesday of every month at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee. It’s basically a support group for young adults with cancer. We recently were awarded the Lance Armstrong Foundation Grant that will support a speaker series. In the past we have gone to Brewer Games and other events together.

A Young (but strong) Spirit:

My belief in God is something that has really helped and is really important. My belief in God gives me hope. It gives me something to look forward to. It relieves my every day tensions. I just find it comforting to know that there is always someone there I can talk to.

Survivor Spotlight on MARTY TEN PAS : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on RALPH LEMP : Prostate Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on SANDY AMWEG : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on STEVE PHILIPPS : Prostate Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on IONE HEINEN : Breast Cancer & Colo-Rectal Cancer Survivor
April, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update: DON FICKETT : As Told By Caregiving Champion: LINDA FICKETT
March, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on AUDREY SWITA : Breast Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlights on DIANA BRAY & MARY SCHMEISER : Diana - Lung Cancer, Mary - Breast Cancer
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on GENE TE WINKLE : Melanoma Survivor
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on MARY ANN HAMMES : Breast Cancer Survivor
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on ART WESENER (Colon Cancer) : with Caregiving Champion JOANNE WESENER
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on JUDY FRIEDERICHS : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on PAT JENKINS : Breast Cancer & Hodgkin's Disease Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: DR. PHIL WALKER : Prostate Cancer Survivor
March, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on: Rollie Huibregtse : Leukemia Survivor
March, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: PEGGY KERR : Colon Cancer Survivor
January, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on EUGENE TEWINKLE : Melonoma Survivor
November, 2003

Survivor Spotlight Update on LINDA BURKART : Thymoma Cancer Survivor
November, 2003