January 21, 2014

Matt's Miracle Story.

I know I talk about my sweet brother on here all the time, but I realized I have never talked about what his disabilities are. I am sorry for picture overload. I even got rid of a ton of them! I just have to share his darling little smiling face with all of you! Oh and yes I realize I was a very awkward looking child ha ha. Lastly I am sorry for the image quality. Most of these pictures are from a long time ago so they have been scanned in and the quality isn’t very good.

This post is really long and I apologize for that. I didn’t know how to break it up… It is truly an amazing story. I promise your life will be changed if you can make it to the end!

Matthew Steven Nielsen was born on February 22nd 1993. The doctors determined that Matt had a chromosomal defect. He had/has trisomy 21 which means that he has 3 chromosomes instead of 2 on his 21st chromosome. Matt was taken home to a very loving family who was so excited to have his special spirit into his home. When Matt was born the doctors told my parents that he had some heart defects that were very common in Down’s kids and that he would have to go through surgery when he was bigger and stronger.

Matt was taken into at 9 months surgery for Atrioventricular Spetal Defects or also known as a hole in his heart. AVSD are a very common in children with Down Syndrome. Matt had 2 surgeries on his heart and did very well with each! He then got to come back home to his loving family who was so excited to have him there to stay!

Matt is/was developmentally slower than a regular child due to his Down Syndrome. He crawled slower, talked slower, and hit all of his milestones later than most. He eventually was able to walk with a walker, but still needed some assistance. Matt was still progressing slower than most Down Syndrome kids, but my parents thought that it was just Matt and he was taking a little longer than most.

The picture below shows how small Matt was. Matt is on the left and Brayden my other brother on the right. Matt and Brayden are 3 years apart. Brayden is around 1 years old and Matt is around 4  in this picture.

When Matt was 4 years old, he was jumping on the trampoline with cousins when the right side of his body went limp. My mom couldn’t get him to move his right arm so she took him to the emergency room with what she thought was a broken arm. After an x-ray didn’t show a broken bone, the ER sent Matt home and said he probably was just going through a phase. Matt still wouldn’t move his arm so he was taken back 4 different times for X-Rays. He was x-rayed for all sorts of different things, his lower arm, upper arm, shoulder, etc. On the 4th time my dad was quite frustrated. He asked them to see if possibly his shoulder was dislocated while they were moving him . The doctors then took Matt back for a CT scan. While Matt was in the machine he moved (you are supposed to hold very still so the right parts of your body can be scanned). What most would be frustrated about became something that gave my parents so many answers. The doctor currently on Matt’s case in the ER at Primary Children’s was looking at Matt’s x-ray in the hall way when a neurosurgeon came up and asked to see the x-ray, he said “look up at the top, that is a tumor.”. He asked where the child was and the doctor stated that he was back in the room. Matt was then sent home and the neurosurgeon took his x-ray into a team meeting to look at it. (At this time it is around 5AM) My parents around 5:30 AM were called and told to rush Matt up to Primary Children’s for emergency life threatening surgery (the doctors at this time did not know how serious his tumor really was). My parents then rushed sweet Matt to the hospital, the doctors did a full CT scan of Matt’s entire body which revealed that he had a brain and spinal cord tumor. My dad was in the room with the Dr.’s when they saw the x-ray. (The doctor on Matt’s case was a world-renowned surgeon. He was the doctor who separated the Utah Siamese twins.) They stated “Oh MY GOSH!” The tumor is shaped like a dumbbell! It is fat up in his brain, skinny through his neck and spinal cord and then went fat down his back and spinal cord. The doctors stated to my parents that they did not know if the tumor was fatty or cancerous and they would have to determine that when they got in there. Matt was in surgery for around 10 hours. During surgery the doctors came out to my parents and let them know that the tumor was a fatty tumor. The doctors explained the tumor as gooey slime that was wrapped around a bunch of wires. They couldn’t cut the wires or Matt would lose motor functions. In the 10 hours of surgery the doctors only got less than 10% off the tumor out, but reduced enough pressure off of him.

Matt was in the hospital for a few weeks following the surgery in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The day before Matt was to go home he was moved out onto the floor. My sweet dad was staying the night with Matt when all hell broke loose. Matt crashed. He stopped breathing. His SAT’s dropped and his sweet face was slowly turning purple. My dad called for help and the doctors and nurses rushed in. They intubated him to keep his lungs open. The doctors then did extensive testing to find out that during his brain and spinal cord surgery the nerve to his diaphragm was severed paralyzing his left diaphragm. (Your diaphragm is the muscle the pushes your lungs up and down to breathe.) In the x-ray Matt’s diaphragm was up to his nipple. He was rushed back into PICU until he could undergo another surgery. Matt was then taken into surgery for a tracheostomy (a hole in your throat that bypasses your nose and mouth to breath) so he could be on a ventilator life long. Matt was also given a Gastrointestinal Tube (G-Tube) because many kids with trach’s don’t pass their swallow studies to eat like we do. Matt however passed his test but choses not to eat. He is fed with formula, but drinks flat warm Diet Coke. Yes you read that right 🙂 We can also get him to lick Doritos or Tortilla chips on occasion.

From the point of Matt’s first surgery until he was on a ventilator he was at Primary Children’s for 3 1/2 months. During this time Matt had amazing visitors come and see him at the hospital including the Utah Jazz players, Hockey players, Harley Davidson Riders, and so many more!

When he came home from the hospital and was home for only 2 short days when he crashed at home and was life flighted back to Primary Children’s. Matt spent another couple weeks at the hospital and then came home and was life flighted again and he has been home ever since. Matt was/is the strongest person, fighting with everything he has every single day to stay here on this earth with my family.

Matt has been home now for 16 years! When Matt was sick at the hospital they gave my parents the life expectancy of only a couple years and he has by far surpassed that! My family makes sure to adapt everything we do so Matt can participate with us. Matt has done so many things that people would have never thought he would be able to do. My parents have done an amazing job of making sure that Matt has an amazing quality of life. They spend hours adapting Rangers for his vent to fit, fitting cardboard around his wheelchair so he can be a true fireman, figuring out how their little man can go skiing or swimming. None of this is easy, but they just want him to do the things that every other little kid gets to do.

Here are pictures of the many things Matt has done:

Went to the Olympics when they were in Salt Lake City to cheer on USA!

Been Sit-Skiing at Solitude Ski Resort! He wasn’t too happy about it!

Bowling is one of Matt’s favorite things to do! Whenever he gets to pick what we do or where we go the answer is always FAT CATS!!

Family bike rides in Jackson Hole are not Matt’s favorite! The only part he likes is to race you and try to knock you off your bike to win!

Matt got to meet all the Jazz players after a basketball game! Karl Malone and John Stockton are Matt’s all time favorite players. Karl Malone even gave Matt his signed practice jersey!

Getting to be a Fireman in a firetruck was so fun for him! My dad spent countless hours fitting cardboard to Matt’s wheelchair so he could be a fireman for Halloween! His nurse that took him to school came as the dalmatian and he was the talk at the elementary school that year! He also was a bus driver one year!

Matt walked at graduation with his class! It was one of his proudest moments graduating with his best friends since first grade!

With kids like Matt where you think the hospital would be your best friend when they are sick, it is somewhere you never want to take them. They start to mess with his ventilator settings and things that have worked perfectly for 16 years. Whenever Matt is sick my families goal is to keep him out of the hospital and to treat him at home.  Matt use to get very very sick every October. Life threatening sick. Matt then would be treated with super high strength antibiotics that are never given in a home situation. He would have IV’s and every night my parents would be so grateful that he made it through another night. Matt hasn’t been that sick for many many years. We have been so blessed! This past December Matt got very sick again. I was so little when all the other times happened that I don’t remember any of it. This time when he was sick it was the scariest days of my life. My best friend was so helpless and lifeless. I am so grateful that Matt has such amazing doctors that will let us treat him at home. Many days were spent laying by him and rubbing his sweet little face. I spent many hours holding him in his bed with tears streaming down my cheeks. I am so grateful that he pulled out of it. I don’t know what I would do with out my sweet miracle brother.

Matt lives a very healthy life considering all of his medical concerns. He just wants to be treated just as you are. He doesn’t want to be babied, or treated like he is special. Quite frankly if you ask him if he is special needs or if there is something wrong with him he will look at you like your stupid and tell you “NO!”. He wants you to be his friend, not be afraid of him. We know that he is a lot to look at and you don’t know if you can touch anything in fear of hurting him, but please don’t let that scare you away. He is not as fragile as he looks. For instance, last year in his P.E. class (P.E. is his absolute favorite class at school, so much that he has it on A days and B days so he can go everyday) to get over his fear of Volleyballs he drove back and forth across the gym floor while the kids spiked Volleyballs at him. You may think we are mean or it was unethical for us to let him do that, but guess what, it gave him the time of his life and the giggles and smiles on his face afterward made it all amazingly worth it! Please treat Matt just as if you would want to be treated. That is all I ask! You can stare at his medical equipment wondering what it all does, I would too! Just please do it with a smile on your face. Trust me, if you can look past all of his tubes, beeps, and wheelchair, you will see an amazing little boy that will change your entire life!

Matt has 5 major loves in his life…

The Utah Jazz! Matt watches or listens to the games no matter where he is. He loves the Jazz even on their worst days and is so heartbroken when they lose! (Which is quite frequently these days!) I am so blessed that I get to go to every weekend home game with him and cheer on his true love of the Utah Jazz!

ReAl Salt Lake! He goes to these games rain or shine! We even can get him to drink water, lick cotton candy, or drink hot chocolate there! But don’t think that he will do any of that anywhere else ha.

BATMAN!! Matt truly believes that Batman is a person and that he is running around saving the world from bad guys! Matt loves to make plans of how he and Batman are going to save the world from the Joker.

 

Denver Broncos! This is a new love of his! He loves Peyton Manning!! He watches every game and checks on his iPad to see when the next one is coming up. He is so excited that the Broncos are going to the Superbowl this year!

P.E. class like I stated above is Matt’s absolute favorite class! You can always find him speeding down the hall ways without time to stop and say hello when he is headed to P.E. The P.E. coach at Fremont is outstanding! Matt thinks that he is a coach, not a student in that class. Coach let’s Matt get in front of everyone at the beginning of class and give them a pep talk. It is probably the sweetest and funniest thing I have ever seen! He makes everyone “clap their hands” for various members of the class, calls kids up to be on his “team” and then BOO’s while Coach picks his team, coaches a group of his friends in every single sport, and just absolutely dies to go to P.E. every day!!

Matt has been a blessing to so many and touched so many lives! The girls at school just flock to him! We have had so many amazing people come into his life and love him. He is 20 years old but still attends high school. (He can stay in the school system until he is 22 years old, so he has 1 more year after this one!) He has been an assistant coach at Fremont Basketball games, been asked to dances, been in assemblies, has his own letterman jacket, and so many other things! We are so grateful and blessed that he is so accepted at his school. He has so many best friends and as much as Matt changes their lives they change his and my families!

This is Maddie and Alicia. These girls are the most amazing girls I have ever met. They truly love Matt for himself! They FaceTime with him and text him daily even though they have graduated high school. They asked Matt to MORP last year and he had the time of his life with his “girlfriends”!

This is another, Maddie who asked Matt to the thrift shop themed Sadie’s dance this year! Man this girl is amazing! She went all out! She bought glow sticks and decorated his wheelchair. She was so thoughtful the entire night! She knew Matt didn’t eat so she made sure to eat dinner before she met him at the school to play soccer before the dance!

My parents are the most remarkable people I have ever met. They take such amazing care of him. He is not easy to get ready in the morning as he fights you like a regular teenager to go back to sleep. Or to lift him to change his diaper, put his pants on, or move him to his wheelchair. My mom gets him ready for school every single day. My dad spends countless hours away from my mom taking Matt to ReAl games and Jazz games when he should be working on things for work. They center their lives around Matt and that to me is what has made Matt’s quality of life so amazing. Matt loves them both so much!! He gets angry with them both, like a typical teenager, but is beyond grateful to each of them and tells them thank you and he loves them a million times a day. I look up to my parents so much. They could have been bitter about having this sweet special needs kids to take care of life long, but they have the most amazing attitude that they get to have a miracle in their home everyday to learn and grow from.

Matt is my greatest blessing in my life. He has changed me. He has made me be grateful for so many things that I have taken for granted and to truly realize that life is precious. He is my best friend and my hero. I love him more than words. I am so grateful to be his sister. That I get the opportunity to learn from him everyday. He always keeps a smile on my face. He worries about me daily just as I worry for him! I watch him bring so much hope and light into peoples life and I hope one day I can spread half the light he does! He is the most positive person I have ever met in my life. He never ever complains when he has so much to complain about. If you ask him he is never tired, never hurt, and never sad. He is such an amazing example to me and the world! I wish I could give everyone a sliver of Matt to put in their hearts, I promise you your heart will never be the same!

I love you Matt!! Thank you for making me the person I am today and changing my life forever!

If you have any questions or anything feel free to comment below or email me at lovemedanimarie@gmail.com. Also make sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with all of Matt’s life (@lovemedanimarie)!

XO