[Applause]
so if someone were to offer you a chance
of something with the odds being one to
one and a quarter million would you take
the chance those aren’t very good odds
if you’re trying to win the lottery but
if it’s brain cancer and you are there
surviving 1% you’d take the chance and I
did it’s true what my wife says about me
being one in a million
yeah and she does and so this is the
beginning of my new normal
now some maybe I’d just say that I’m
lucky and in fact I am I am lucky 13 in
a family of 14 children see that’s that
14 that you’re talking about yeah yeah
that wasn’t our family but but yeah a
family of 14 but my luck didn’t stop
there I’ve had some great opportunities
in my life I had opportunities to
perform with a couple of my brothers we
even made a few CDs and we did it
professionally I was able to be on a
national television show called this old
house when I was listen Liz living in
Massachusetts selling and installing
high ended shedders I was able to have
my own wood floor business and I could
do just about anything that I put my
mind to in 2006 I was 35 years old I had
I was married had three small boys and
and I was finishing up my bachelor’s
degree at the local university when a
weekend visit to the emergency room
because I was having some weird spells
and talking gibberish changed everything
I had an exploratory surgery the next
morning I had brain cancer it was a
weird kind of weird kind of cancer it
was called an olio astrocytoma Glenda
Aloma mix in my left temporal lobe the
survival rate is less than 1% after one
year
I went in for the second surgery about a
month later to get as much of the tumor
as they could out when I woke up from my
second surgery there was a nurse in my
room and she was holding up a letter and
she says Matt do you know what this
letter is
I did not she said Matt this is an M
your name is Matt it starts with an M at
that point I was thinking it would be be
a great time to learn another language
because I did not know English my whole
world changed at that point I could no
longer read I couldn’t read a road sign
to see where I was going I couldn’t read
a menu at a restaurant I couldn’t read a
baby book for my kids to put them to
sleep it was like I was living in a
different world I couldn’t write and I
had a tough time expressing myself about
seven months into treatment I was
dealing with the beginnings of a divorce
and a custody battle for me to even see
my boys I went to my doctor and he says
Matt you probably have a couple months
to live I had heard those words before
my oldest brother Ron 14 years earlier
died of cancer by the time that he found
it to the time that he cut died was two
months they didn’t even know that the
origin of the cancer because when and
they found it it was everywhere my
family didn’t want to lose another
brother to cancer I fought I went to
another doctor and as he was having a
sandwich he said sorry there’s nothing I
could do my siblings asked doctor
friends to see to look at my scans and
they also were like we’re sorry I was
going downhill fast and I was felt like
I was losing at everything
in fact one night I felt like that if I
would have died that night or if I would
have slept that night
I would have died no I went to a high
school track and walked all night long
it was like my body was was stopping it
was not working right I called my mom in
the middle of the night and said mom I
don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be
around about 5:00 in the morning I
called my sister and said can you pick
me up and take me to the emergency room
just so I can get some relief three days
later I get a call from one of my
brothers it says Matt I’ve got a
airplane ticket to Salt Lake City Utah
there’s a doctor there that wants to
meet me to be in a clinical trial option
my family has been we’re looking for
anything to save my life I was on the
airplane that morning and that afternoon
I was at the doctors in his office and
that’s like three days after I thought
that my life was done he said Matt he
said all right if we have one more
surgery and then could you come and see
me every once in a while for the next 30
years I started to cry and then I said
can we make it 50 years
yeah well while we’re doing that I came
out of my third surgery now I still had
cancer but they were able to take away
some some cysts there were I’ve been
putting pressure on the brain
I was also paralyzed on my entire right
side I had a little pity party for
myself for about a half hour I was I was
upset I was thinking why is this
happening to me and then I thought Matt
I’m alive and I can figure this out so I
thought what can I do with what I have
what is my new normal going to look like
one of the first things that I tried to
do was to play my guitar now I had been
playing my guitar for almost 20 years
before the cancer I tried like crazy to
get my right hand to even strum on the
guitar but every time my thumb would
fall into the strings like this my yeah
and and then so it didn’t have any sound
and so I thought what can I do with what
I have and so I took my whole right side
out of the equation I would practice
with a captive audience of other people
who were having chemo with me and I I
look I learn a way to to do some things
this this is my new normal
this is a song that I wrote several
years ago but even before the cancer and
it’s called go fly a kite it’s helped me
tremendously
[Music]
like it did and if the troubles of my
life
I couldn’t you see the things that cared
of pack up all that I was scared of and
then with my kite I’d head out to our
old I found the field I didn’t care
about the time I needed some place to
unwind where I could think about my
future if I needed to I’d pray then I’d
sit and watch my cares float away up in
the air with my kites and all the hours
of the day and it’s not worth it to me
fighting all humanity where I’d have to
plead and beg to make so if the world
seems too unreal and I need some time to
hear you you can find me with my
troubles in my cut out in the field once
I learned that I could play my guitar I
knew that I could do just about anything
when I am I thought I started going on
and in doing learning how to read and
write again and people said Matt you
don’t have to do that you don’t have to
read to be able to have a great life but
to me reading was a huge benefit and a
challenge for me and I was able to do it
in fact I was even able to be able to
finish my college degree I was able to
get remarried and the odds of having
children were also very slim I had a lot
of chemo but we’ve been able to have two
other children to add to us great family
I was learning all kinds of things that
I didn’t know that I could do like in
making beds all right try doing that one
time with your non-dominant hand all
right
I couldn’t even get out of doing the
laundry all right well one of the great
things about my wife is that she has
never once thought of me as being
disabled she believes in me and she
doesn’t rescue me
from doing hard things so when I see a
chat task that needs to be done I just
figure out ways that I can do it what
can I do with what I have this is just a
few a little clip of some other things
that I’ve learned how to do this is a
daily life in my new normal this is what
helps me get my lawnmower started in the
summertime so I just put this thing in
and push it there that way I don’t have
to use this other hand to pull
[Music]
so I still take chant challenge I still
take a challenge at things I know that I
can do anything that I want but I have a
question for each of you what is your
new normal
everyone here is struggling with
something in their life to get it a
little better what can you do with what
you have with the winds of life for
blowing and you don’t like where you’re
going and you want to turn around and
make things right
go fly kite whoa go fly a kite
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
so if someone were to offer you a chance
of something with the odds being one to
one and a quarter million would you take
the chance those aren’t very good odds
if you’re trying to win the lottery but
if it’s brain cancer and you are there
surviving 1% you’d take the chance and I
did it’s true what my wife says about me
being one in a million
yeah and she does and so this is the
beginning of my new normal
now some maybe I’d just say that I’m
lucky and in fact I am I am lucky 13 in
a family of 14 children see that’s that
14 that you’re talking about yeah yeah
that wasn’t our family but but yeah a
family of 14 but my luck didn’t stop
there I’ve had some great opportunities
in my life I had opportunities to
perform with a couple of my brothers we
even made a few CDs and we did it
professionally I was able to be on a
national television show called this old
house when I was listen Liz living in
Massachusetts selling and installing
high ended shedders I was able to have
my own wood floor business and I could
do just about anything that I put my
mind to in 2006 I was 35 years old I had
I was married had three small boys and
and I was finishing up my bachelor’s
degree at the local university when a
weekend visit to the emergency room
because I was having some weird spells
and talking gibberish changed everything
I had an exploratory surgery the next
morning I had brain cancer it was a
weird kind of weird kind of cancer it
was called an olio astrocytoma Glenda
Aloma mix in my left temporal lobe the
survival rate is less than 1% after one
year
I went in for the second surgery about a
month later to get as much of the tumor
as they could out when I woke up from my
second surgery there was a nurse in my
room and she was holding up a letter and
she says Matt do you know what this
letter is
I did not she said Matt this is an M
your name is Matt it starts with an M at
that point I was thinking it would be be
a great time to learn another language
because I did not know English my whole
world changed at that point I could no
longer read I couldn’t read a road sign
to see where I was going I couldn’t read
a menu at a restaurant I couldn’t read a
baby book for my kids to put them to
sleep it was like I was living in a
different world I couldn’t write and I
had a tough time expressing myself about
seven months into treatment I was
dealing with the beginnings of a divorce
and a custody battle for me to even see
my boys I went to my doctor and he says
Matt you probably have a couple months
to live I had heard those words before
my oldest brother Ron 14 years earlier
died of cancer by the time that he found
it to the time that he cut died was two
months they didn’t even know that the
origin of the cancer because when and
they found it it was everywhere my
family didn’t want to lose another
brother to cancer I fought I went to
another doctor and as he was having a
sandwich he said sorry there’s nothing I
could do my siblings asked doctor
friends to see to look at my scans and
they also were like we’re sorry I was
going downhill fast and I was felt like
I was losing at everything
in fact one night I felt like that if I
would have died that night or if I would
have slept that night
I would have died no I went to a high
school track and walked all night long
it was like my body was was stopping it
was not working right I called my mom in
the middle of the night and said mom I
don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be
around about 5:00 in the morning I
called my sister and said can you pick
me up and take me to the emergency room
just so I can get some relief three days
later I get a call from one of my
brothers it says Matt I’ve got a
airplane ticket to Salt Lake City Utah
there’s a doctor there that wants to
meet me to be in a clinical trial option
my family has been we’re looking for
anything to save my life I was on the
airplane that morning and that afternoon
I was at the doctors in his office and
that’s like three days after I thought
that my life was done he said Matt he
said all right if we have one more
surgery and then could you come and see
me every once in a while for the next 30
years I started to cry and then I said
can we make it 50 years
yeah well while we’re doing that I came
out of my third surgery now I still had
cancer but they were able to take away
some some cysts there were I’ve been
putting pressure on the brain
I was also paralyzed on my entire right
side I had a little pity party for
myself for about a half hour I was I was
upset I was thinking why is this
happening to me and then I thought Matt
I’m alive and I can figure this out so I
thought what can I do with what I have
what is my new normal going to look like
one of the first things that I tried to
do was to play my guitar now I had been
playing my guitar for almost 20 years
before the cancer I tried like crazy to
get my right hand to even strum on the
guitar but every time my thumb would
fall into the strings like this my yeah
and and then so it didn’t have any sound
and so I thought what can I do with what
I have and so I took my whole right side
out of the equation I would practice
with a captive audience of other people
who were having chemo with me and I I
look I learn a way to to do some things
this this is my new normal
this is a song that I wrote several
years ago but even before the cancer and
it’s called go fly a kite it’s helped me
tremendously
[Music]
like it did and if the troubles of my
life
I couldn’t you see the things that cared
of pack up all that I was scared of and
then with my kite I’d head out to our
old I found the field I didn’t care
about the time I needed some place to
unwind where I could think about my
future if I needed to I’d pray then I’d
sit and watch my cares float away up in
the air with my kites and all the hours
of the day and it’s not worth it to me
fighting all humanity where I’d have to
plead and beg to make so if the world
seems too unreal and I need some time to
hear you you can find me with my
troubles in my cut out in the field once
I learned that I could play my guitar I
knew that I could do just about anything
when I am I thought I started going on
and in doing learning how to read and
write again and people said Matt you
don’t have to do that you don’t have to
read to be able to have a great life but
to me reading was a huge benefit and a
challenge for me and I was able to do it
in fact I was even able to be able to
finish my college degree I was able to
get remarried and the odds of having
children were also very slim I had a lot
of chemo but we’ve been able to have two
other children to add to us great family
I was learning all kinds of things that
I didn’t know that I could do like in
making beds all right try doing that one
time with your non-dominant hand all
right
I couldn’t even get out of doing the
laundry all right well one of the great
things about my wife is that she has
never once thought of me as being
disabled she believes in me and she
doesn’t rescue me
from doing hard things so when I see a
chat task that needs to be done I just
figure out ways that I can do it what
can I do with what I have this is just a
few a little clip of some other things
that I’ve learned how to do this is a
daily life in my new normal this is what
helps me get my lawnmower started in the
summertime so I just put this thing in
and push it there that way I don’t have
to use this other hand to pull
[Music]
so I still take chant challenge I still
take a challenge at things I know that I
can do anything that I want but I have a
question for each of you what is your
new normal
everyone here is struggling with
something in their life to get it a
little better what can you do with what
you have with the winds of life for
blowing and you don’t like where you’re
going and you want to turn around and
make things right
go fly kite whoa go fly a kite
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
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