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This is the Story of Sarcoma


Where do I start?

The story of Mathew's cancer did not start when the medical community finally recognized the problem. It started much earlier, but the road to Mathew's diagnosis is a tragedy and deserving of a blog of its own. This blog will begin with his long-overdue diagnosis.

Sarcomas are the rarest cancers and predominantly affect the young and are often misdiagnosed with tragic consequences. Soft-tissue Sarcomas are usually fatal after months of devastating treatments. This is the story of Sarcoma.

For reference:
The number of new breast cancer diagnoses in the US is approximately 256,000. 
           Close to the population of Madison, Wisconsin.

The number of Sarcomas diagnosed last year, 12,390. 
                           For a visual of this number see images for Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Ok.

The number of Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma patients? 
                          The number of students in a small classroom. 20.


A word about the people in Mathew's life that year.

I will mention a Stepmother and a Stepsister, not to demean or make less the importance of them in my son's life but rather to explain why one of the items of his bucket list was to survive to see his new nephew. So you know that Mathew was an Uncle, yet I have no Grandchildren. Another to see his little brother's next birthday, though my only children are Mathew and his twin brother Joseph.

Mathew's care was a group effort, and we supported each other. 


I will be as honest as possible; we all made mistakes and had our conflicts. It would be easy to gloss over, but I will not.

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  1. Billie -always MomMay 2, 2018 at 11:49 AM

    Hello, here I sit in my bed. I should be doing so many things, but it's getting closer to the anniversary of my son's death from this devastating cancer. He was 15 by the time we found out that this cancer was raging through his body. We were informed that he was at stage 4 and had a half hour to gather our things and get him to the oncology unit. His liver was shutting down. We tried everything but he passed away at 16. I appreciate all of the entries you have posted. Your son's music and his words are most heartwrenchingly beautiful. I do believe i have become stronger around it as the years have past (8 years coming up) that I can carry the pain versus the pain dragging me. May you have strength to keep going today. You have helped me.

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