Help Matt Hendren Beat Cancer

Hi all,

My brother-in-law Matt Hendren, husband to Sarah and father to Lucas, Chloe, Logan, Noah, Max, and Cora, is currently undergoing treatment for Stage 4 Colon Cancer. Matt has spent 25 years as a nurse helping others, and now he needs our help!

Matt and Sarah’s life was flipped upside down on June 6th when he received the shocking news that a routine colonoscopy revealed a lesion most likely cancerous. Matt, Sarah, and the doctors were hopeful that, if it was cancer, it would be stage 1 or 2 as he had no symptoms and it seemed to be caught early.

Unfortunately, the biopsy results showed that Matt did have colon cancer. After surgery to remove cancer on June 29th, they were called and given even worse news. The cancer was worse than originally thought, and he was already Stage 3.

They hardly had time to take in that news before Matt was taken to the ER on July 4th due to severe pain and high fever just days after his surgery. After four days in the hospital, doctors realized his original surgical site had leaked stool into his abdominal cavity, and he was rushed off to life-saving surgery.

What the surgeon told Sarah would likely be a ‘very bumpy’ 2-3 week recovery turned into a horrific 66-day hospital stay full of many touch-and-go moments. Matt was septic and experienced complications at every turn. From blood clots in his lungs and legs to a collapsed lung, fluid-filled lungs that were drained three times, and many more issues.

By the end of his lengthy hospital stay, Matt had required 12 CT scans and a total of six drains along with a new colostomy (they lovingly refer to it as a ‘poo pouch’).

Through inpatient rehab, Matt learned to stand up and walk again and was discharged home to continue his healing. There, they received a call from their oncologist stating that the last two CT scans had shown a new mass/lesion that is thought to be cancerous, pushing Matt into stage 4 cancer.

As you can imagine, the stress of that diagnosis is only made more difficult by the financial burden of such a lengthy hospital stay, as well as past, current and upcoming treatments. The bills just keep rolling in from the summer months.

Matt and Sarah continue to look for anything that will get Matt healthy again and will be moving forward with treatment for Matt that will be expensive, out of pocket, and require travel.

With Matt unable to work and his paid time away ending, Sarah has had to step away from one of her nursing incomes to take care of Matt and will miss a month of work (without pay) to be with Matt in his next journey of treatment and they have already gone through their savings.

Matt has given so much to others over the years. His passion for helping heal those in need has always been on display and we feel it is only fitting to support him in his time of need.

So please, if you can spare a few dollars, please know that every single cent will go directly to Matt’s medical bills for treatment and to help ease the financial burden on Matt and his family throughout his ongoing treatment.

From the bottom of our hearts, we humbly ask that you share this link with friends and family and if you feel led to give, any amount will help. We are relying on our friends and community to help this couple out.