HSCT JOURNEY 

Matthew was living in Florida in 2004, and at very stressful time with numerous hurricanes battering the area. He had also just been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis by a Neurologist. At that diagnosis appointment at 37 years old he was presented by his doctor he would need to take an injection medication each day for the rest of his life. 

Unfortunately over the years these medications caused way too many side effects, including daily flu like symptoms for many weeks and even anaphylactic shock which landed him in the emergency room.  All of this going on in the background while still working full time as a director in the hotel business.  

He continued pressing on, along with his wife Rebecca and their four daughters and did his best to battle through. After many failed attempts using these disease modifying treatments, Matthew started to modify his diet, exercise and his daily exercise routine which all helped, but nothing was slowing the progression.

In 2014, he first learned of HSCT, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant. A procedure which has been around for decades, but not approved for multiple sclerosis in the United States.  HSCT is a chemotherapy based medical procedure which ablates your immune system and reboots it using your own stem cells harvested from your blood or bone marrow, which is the ONLY medical procedure currently available which has halted the progression of the majority of patients undertaking HSCT.  The goal of HSCT is to HALT the progression of the autoimmune disease, any healing of symptomatic damage already done is a bonus and not guaranteed.  

Matthew and his wife traveled to Chicago in October 2015, to hopefully get into the HSCT trial.  However he was not accepted due to new “revised criteria” with the trials.  Being extremely frustrated with the Chicago experience, Matthew sought out the two best HSCT international clinics; Russia and Mexico.  Matthew was granted a place at Clinica Ruiz in Puebla Mexico.  His month long HSCT treatment took place in February 2016 including several rounds of chemotherapy, severe bone pain, and neutropenia (no immune system).  Matthew went to Mexico using a cane, and when he came home he was able to walk without one!

He was at the clinic with nine other patients from around the world, (six from Norway, one from England, and another American) one of the first international groups to Clinical Ruiz and they were all going through the journey together.  They all wanted more.... not just selfishly for themselves, but wanted more for their family.  Each came with dedication, passion, and persistence to halt their MS progression. 

Matthew’s always steadfast goal was to walk each of his daughters down their wedding aisle and has now fulfilled this promise to three out of his four daughters.  MS used to mean many scars,  many symptoms, and many struggles. However to Matthew and his family MS meant More Spirituality; Mighty Strong; Much Support; Many Successes and now My Story!! 

HSCT news story (March 2016)

https://weartv.com/news/local/life-changing-procedure-helps-man-fulfill-dream