Unfortunately Matt passed on July 6th 2024 leaving behind his wife & children to pick up the pieces. we are still waiting for autopsy reports for the official cause of death since. It could take months for answers because of his complicated medical issues. Their family home was also destroyed less than 48 hours later by hurricane Beryl on July 8th 2024 so help is much appreciated since damages are not covered by insurance. The home is a total loss & needs to be torn down.
Matthew Herron & I are both Volunteer firefighters at River's End Volunteer Fire Department in Brazoria, Texas. We are the ones usually helping others but we desperately need help right now. We love serving our community. As much as we hate to ask, we need help this time. We have been married for 30 years. Our 20 year old son is also a volunteer firefighter. We also have 2 daughters that are ages 25 & 9. We have 3 grandsons who are at home waiting for their pop-pop to get better. We also have an amazing son-in-law that we were blessed with. Matt went to the hospital on September 1st & they found a 14cm mass on his liver. He was sent to several places for tests & appointments. We do not have insurance so alot of these tests & appointments had to be paid for up front. He was admitted into UTMB Galveston on September 13th because the tumor had grown even more. It was causing complications & extreme pain. They have done several scans, blood tests & xrays. The tumor has alot of veins in it & major blood flow so they are not able to safely biopsy it before they remove it. It is also at risk of rupturing due to its size & location which would most likely be fatal. They did a procedure on September 16th to block the artery that feeds the tumor on his liver to reduce the chances of him bleeding out during the surgery to remove it. Unfortunately during that procedure, he had a complication that resulted in excruciating pain & him getting pancreatitis. 60% to 70% of his pancreas necrotized and he ended up being put into the ICU unit. The doctors believe that he will regain some function of his pancreas but we do not know how much function he will regain. His surgery has now been delayed while we wait for his pancreas to heal enough for his body to be able to handle the liver surgery. They will be removing atleast 60% of his liver & his gallbladder when they remove the tumor. They will then be able to biopsy the tumor to determine if it is cancerous. He was immediately taken off work so he has not worked at all this month. I have also missed several days of work to take him to appointments & to be in the hospital with him. He spent several days not being able to communicate with doctors due to how sick he was so I had to be here to speak & make decisions for him. They are hoping to do his liver surgery sometime next week however that is yet to be determined. He will be in the hospital a minimum of 3 or 4 days after the surgery if everything goes perfect; however they have warned us there is a risk of the pancreatitis coming back since they need to separate the pancreas from his liver to remove the tumor. They do not know what other treatments or additional surgeries he will need for the pancreas or liver but he will definitely need additional care for both. They originally said he will be off work at least 2 months after surgery even if the tumor is not cancer but with the additional complications that could be a lot longer. They honestly can not say when or even if he will be able to return to work or duty as a firefighter. We desperately need help. We do not have a savings account to pay our bills & we used all our vacation time when we had covid. We need help with our house payment, electric bill, phone bill, gas, food & parking while he is staying in the hospital. We also need help with his medical bills & follow up care he will need. We have applied for temporary help since he is unable to work but that process takes time that we do not have. We are trying to stay positive & keep our faith however the financial stress is horrible. Even once I am able to go back to work I don't make enough to pay all of our bills by myself so our entire life is changing. Anything helps since our main focus at this point is to keep him alive, keep a roof over our heads & pay basic necessities at the house. We also need prayers! Lots & lots of prayers!!
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Updates
Back in Galveston hospital. They admitted Matt again. He needs the giant pseudocyst drained & he is having a few other issues that they need to monitor. Please keep Matt in your prayers!!
Well not the update I wanted to give but.........
Matt's mass has started to have blood flow & grow again since he left the hospital. Not alot but still more then we wanted.
Most of his pancreas is pretty much destroyed & is dead now. It could possibly still be leaking. He is now considered diabetic. Part or all of his pancreas might need to be removed but that's to be determined later. Pancreatic pseudocysts are pockets of enzymes & pancreatic digestive juices that have leaked. They got worse & he has several of them. One of them is very large. Its actually as big or bigger then his mass so he is having alot of pain in that area.
His spleen is now enlarged & vein to spleen is weak. They will watch it & if it needs something done that's way later.
Part of his lung is collapsed & has damage. Possibly from not being able to breath deep enough due to pain, pressure & swelling of everything. He might be able to reverse it by doing breathing exercises.
They are referring him to a gastroenterologist to get pancreas & the large pockets taken care of. Not sure how or when but that has to be done before they can remove his mass. They ordered more bloodwork today. It's so hard not knowing how to fix this or what to do to help him. Cherish everyday. You never know when your world will come crashing down around you!
Please keep us in your prayers!
Matt has a follow up with his PCP this morning. Doc said he was shocked when he finally got all his records from Galveston hospital. Doc said he did not realize how severe his pancreatitis was until he got the reports. He was expecting a typical case of normal pancreatitis but Matt's was a really bad case. We are lucky he is even still here with us but there is alot of stuff he still needs to overcome. We are not out of the woods yet. He said their is alot of damage done inside him & he is very concerned. He ordered blood work & a test to check his blood flow thru his body. I'm anxious to get the results. He has been looking alittle more yellow the last few days & even our daughter noticed it today. He is still fighting low grade fever & his liver is hurting more every day. I'm not sure if they are going to do a scan this week but I really hope they do. We need to see if his mass has grown. Please keep us in your prayers. Physically & mentally we are both exhausted.
Also keep the new friends that I have made during all this in your prayers as well. There are a few people who have been a good rock for me & shared their personal experiences to help me learn what I need to watch for & how I can help Matt better. Even during their hard times they still help others. It gives me hope that the world isn't as bad as we all fear. God sends people to show you the way when you least expect it!
The home nurse came to visit today. She was very nice. It takes a special person to be a visiting nurse. She went over things with him & wants him to start keeping a log of his sugar, blood pressure, heart rate & weight. I have been taking it several times a day but I haven't been writing them down. He is having more liver pain so I am really wanting that scan next week to check the blood flow to his mass "Julio". The last thing we need is for it to start growing again but that's the risk we take the longer we wait for his liver surgery. His doc told him the slope isn't as steep right now so breath while we can. We are not to the top of the mountain & we have the hardest part of the road ahead. We haven't even go to the most dangerous part of this horrible journey. Hopefully we have ran into all the complications that we are going to hit but no matter what I'm keeping my faith & it will be alright somehow!!!
Doc appointment today went alright but not the greatest. We was really hoping for a surgery date but honestly I already knew he isn't ready for that yet. Doc wants to do a scan & blookwork maybe next week depending on how he does this week. No clue when surgery will be but he still isn't stable enough. Doc wants to get Matt's weight stabilized also. He has lost over 40lbs within a month. He has to do daily weight checks & drink extra protein drinks. He is eating small amounts but they don't think his body is absorbing the nutrients right since his entire digestive system is so messed up. The horrible cramping pain he is feeling is from small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). As the pancreas dies it produces more coliform bacteria which also causes more issues in his small intestine. Also since he was on so many antibiotics it also killed his good bacteria which allows other bacteria to grow out of control. His entire system is messed up & off balance. They want him on probiotics to see if his body can fix it with alittle help. If it don't help they might need to do an antibiotic that targets the area that has the excess bqcteria instead of it going into the blood stream which kills more good bacteria & causes more side effects. There are complications that can be associated with the process to target the SIBO so it's only if the other stuff don't work. Once they get the scan they will decide how much of his pancreas & other organs have healed or have had more damage done to them. They also want to measure his mass since he is having more pain on that side again. We are hoping it hasn't gotten more blood flow back.They warned us that over time the mass will find alternative blood sources which defeats the purpose of the arterial block they done that gave him pancreatitis to start with. They know he has pseudocysts from his pancreas leaking that also effected the other organs. They need to see how much leaked & what damage it caused to determine how or when to treat that issue. Doc said he isn't really surprised he is having these issues since he has had so many other complications. It also means we need to wait even longer before they can remove the mass.
So it's atleast another week of sit & wait which sucks but atleast he isn't taking major steps back.Donations & Comments
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Thanks so much for your volunteer fire service, Matt and Johnetta. I'm deeply sorry about your pain, Matt. I'm praying that the Lord will comfort you and help you both in this painful trial you're going through.
Thinking of and praying for you all.
God Bless you and your family
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Read about Matt in The Facts newspaper. Felt compelled to donate and pray.