The Twists and Turns on The Road to Awesome

Over a period of a few weeks, Matt began to experience symptoms of balance issues, mood changes, and weight loss. Because he was always so active and constantly jumping around from one activity to the next, the balance changes were obvious to both him and his family. The mood changes stood out as well since they were such a change from his usual constant state of being outgoing and fun-loving. After it was determined that he had a brain tumor of some sort, surgery was scheduled. The turn-around time was fast - he was diagnosed on April 1 and was in surgery by April 8. After a very long 6-10 hour surgery, they were able to determine the type of tumor and Matt was officially diagnosed with a maligntant medulloblastoma. After the surgery, there was a long recovery time in the hospital. Matt's strong spirit was evident immediately after the surgery. Just two days after, the breathing tube was removed and he said his first word post-surgery: "Matt". The next day he said two more words: "Hi, mom." Three days after surgery, he stood up outside of the bed. The next day, he walked 10 steps. Despite the fact that the hospital staff was in amazement at how quickly he was healing post-surgery, it remained difficult for Matt and his entire family. Just 2 weeks earlier, he had been skiing black diamond runs. And now he was being cheered on to take 10 steps next to a hospital bed. 11 days post-op, he moved out of the ICU and laughed for the first time. 

Once he was fully recovered from surgery, about a month later, he began the long process of chemotherapy and radiation. This involved the entire family picking up and moving to Boston for a little bit. A hospital in Boston was able to offer a unique form of radiation that his hometown of Boise wasn't able to offer. After completing his radiation treatments in Boston, he came back to Boise for his chemotherapy. Throughout the entire process, his entire family was right by his side.  He has continued to slowly make progress and recover from all of the radiation and chemotherapy. It has involved multiple physical therapists, occupational therapists, doctors, nurses, friends, and family to all be there supporting him. 

Matt with his parents

Here he is with his little sister, Maggie, who shaved her head for him.

Matt and big brother Josh 

Mama's Boy

It is still unclear exactly how medulloblastoma arises. Some say that it comes from multiple different cells of origin. Other studies have indicated that it arises from a problem in both the Wnt/beta-catenin and the sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathways. When these pathways are inhibited, the tumor is able to begin growing and spreading. It has been hypothesized that sonic hedgehog signaling pathway problems account for 25-30% of all cases of medulloblastoma. As the tumor begins to grow, cerebrospinal fluid is prevented from getting to the fourth ventricle of the brain, which can cause internal swelling of the brain (hydrocephaly). Then, the tumor can begin to spread. It is even capable of spreading through the cerebrospinal fluid down to the brain stem. Medulloblastoma is a unique pediatric brain tumor because it able to spread more quickly than most other tumors. 

References: 

http://reference.medscape.com/article/987886-overview#a0104

http://www.abta.org/brain-tumor-information/types-of-tumors/medulloblastoma.html

Zinke, J., Schneider, F., Harter, P., Thom, S., Ziegler, N., Toftgard, R., . . . Liebner, S. (2015). β-Catenin-Gli1 interaction regulates proliferation and tumor growth in medulloblastoma. Mollecular Cancer, 14(17), 1-9.