Matt | Travel Tuesdays

It seems like I photographed a lot of sick kids when working as a photojournalist for newspapers. Sometimes the stories would be about raising money to help with the outrageous costs of their medical treatments, sometimes it was to rally community support and sometimes I think it was just to show how strong we as humans, even little humans, are.

While working for The Salem News I was given an assignment to cover a fundraiser for a five-year-old boy named Matt who was battling cancer. After meeting the sweet boy bubbling over with personality I asked his family if they wouldn’t mind me documenting his story a bit deeper.

Neuroblastoma cancer, chemotherapy, radiation, and stem cell transplants probably just sounded like a bunch of scary syllables to such a small child and I can’t imagine having to endure all that his tiny body went through. Matt had several surgeries to remove tumors in his stomach, back and shoulders, pinpoint radiation treatments all over his chest and stomach, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and two stem cell transplants where he was stuck in an isolated hospital room for 40 days. I’ll never forget the looks of exhaustion mixed with worry on his parent’s faces or how despite all he went through Matt kept being the silly, smiling boy he originally was.

One of my favorite photos is the first one of this series. I just love the causal, honest, easy smile on his face while striking this pose for me and how the soft wisps of hair on his head are the only indication that his story runs deeper. This was the day after Matt’s third round of chemotherapy. You would never know that underneath his shirt he had a central line coming out of his chest or that he was covered with pinpoint radiation markings. His doctor had called to check on him and to ask if he was resting on the couch. His mother replied with a laugh, “He’s outside, legs in the air, riding his bike down the street.”

When I stopped documenting Matt’s story he was delivered the best news of all, “cancer free” although they warned the family not to get too excited. The cancer had been so aggressive there was a strong probability it would back. Recently, I had been thinking about Matt, wondering what happened to that little boy with all the fantastic expressions. I did some searching and couldn’t come up with much except a record for an eighth grade honor roll student.