Matt's 2026 Update

 Hello! It's been nearly 6 months since my last update. Like many of you, I went into 2026 with a positive mindset - new year, new opportunities, focus on the positives. Well, the universe had different plans. 

I started off the year (literally the first week of January) in the hospital. On January 7th, I went into the ER to get a blood transfusion. This was nothing new to me, as my hemoglobin numbers tend to be low thanks to my condition. While there, I noticed my upper left groin began to swell. I felt a stinging pain every 5-10 minutes. I told the nurses, who gave me some pain meds. They were NOT working. They then told the doctor on call. Without even looking at it, he suggested pain management and that it was not a big deal. After some back and forth, I finally pulled off the blanket, lifted up my shorts, and he could see how swollen my groin had become, along with some bruising. "Oh! You need an ultrasound!" Yeah, no shit, doc. Eventually, I got an ultrasound, and they confirmed it was a blood clot. I had to go to Internal Radiation so they could perform a CDT (catheter-directed thrombolysis). They went through my right femoral artery and were able to clear up the clot. I finally got out of the hospital on my birthday, January 17th. It was a great b-day gift to be home after 10 days. Thank you to my great friend, Adam, for the ride home, and thank you to my uncles Chris and Byron for allowing me to come back to a clean home. I thanked Adam and Chris by immediately falling down when I stepped into my place. One of my legs gave out on the step up and BOOM! I was out. Luckily, they were there to pick me back up and made sure I wasn't too embarrassed. 

At this point, I was eager to get back to work - I missed a week of interviews for our upcoming leadership programs and was determined to get back in rhythm. I had my good and bad days, but it was pretty typical. On February 19th, my coworker and I had a morning meeting with some community leaders. The meeting went well, but I was not feeling great. I was short of breath and had some weird chest pains. My plan was to go home and sleep it off. My coworker asked me how I was feeling, and I tried to brush it off with "I'm fine." But eventually I did tell her how I was really feeling. She asked if I needed to go to the hospital, and I replied, "No way." She rebutted with "Either you let me take you to the hospital, or I call 911." I agreed to get dropped off. 

Once checked in, they ran labs. My liver numbers were through the roof, and they weren't sure why until they conducted an echocardiogram. The blood leaking from my leaky valves was becoming acidic, forcing my liver into overdrive. I had a dissected aorta that needed to be operated on ASAP. Before I knew this info, I had spent the night in the hospital, and as I was munching on my hospital food breakfast, the doctors and specialists came in and told me to not eat anymore, as I would be needing open-heart surgery. I immediately called my Dad and began bawling my eyes out. I told him I needed him to come to AZ as soon as he could (he lives in CO). He was at my bedside the next morning. I reached out to my uncles, close friends, and family in California. My surgery was postponed a few days to let my liver numbers go down. It was a time filled with anxiety and fear. I cannot thank my family and friends enough for being there for me. They'd make me laugh in between fear-riddled cry sessions. There are not enough words to thank you all again. I am truly, truly blessed. On February 25th, it was time for surgery. As they prepped me, I realized my Dad and biological father, Frank, would end up meeting in the waiting room. I was told it went well, and we've all hung out a couple of times since! As they rolled me into the OR, they banged my hospital bed into a wall. "If this is any indication of how the surgery will go, I'm fucked," was my first thought. 

The OR was a bit of a whirlwind. There were at least 8-10 people on the team, including the surgeon. I had someone putting me on oxygen while someone else was shaving me, while others started my IV's. I was out before I knew it. I was told surgery started around 3pm. I think I first woke up around 3am and was in and out until 5am. Around 6am, they took the breathing tube out, and I was rewarded with two spoonfuls of crushed ice. Side note, why do hospitals have the best ice?! It's so good. As I continued to get my bearings back, my family came in. I was relieved. During those hours when I was in and out of sleep/consciousnes, I had some weird dreams (or thoughts? or hallucinations?) and felt that I couldn't tell what was real or what was in my head. Seeing the people I love and who love me was an amazing feeling. By mid-afternoon on the 26th, the ICU nurses had me walking a lap around the unit with the help of a fancy-looking walker. I was in awe - how the fuck was my chest cut wide open 12 hours ago, and here I am, walking (gingerly) around. It was a trip for sure. On the 27th, the surgeon came into my room and gave me a breakdown of what he did. He told me I was lucky and very blessed, and so was he - he explained that when he repaired my dissected aorta, my leaky valves corrected themselves. Had he needed to repair or replace them, I was in store for lifelong maintenance and meds. This was some damn-near miracle shit, and I was blessed to have such an amazing surgeon. 

I spent the next two and a half weeks recovering and getting some incredible visitors. Not to mention, so many calls and texts from others full of well-wishes and prayers. I truly have an army behind me, and I am so, so grateful! I finally got back home on March 12th. My Dad stayed with me for several weeks and helped me immensely. I couldn't drive for six weeks, so he would wake up at 5am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to take me back and forth to dialysis. He went back to Colorado at the end of March, and I was focused on continuing to recover until my return back to work on April 23rd. However, my body had different plans. 

This is only the first 3 months of 2026, ya'll. I'm going to post another blog about what I went through in April/May. THANK YOU so much for being on this ride with me. As far as transplant news goes, I have a 3-month follow-up with cardiology in a couple of days. My blood pressure has been under control, and my most recent ECHO looks good. I have a stress test left to do, and probably more labs. Hoping we can get that sign-off for surgery in the next couple of months! Please continue to send well-wishes and prayers - they help me so much. And, if you can, please continue to share my story and GoFundMe link. Having an unplanned open-heart surgery was not on my financial bingo card this year. Thank you again for the love and support, and I promise the next blog will be up sooner rather than later!