Help the Ashworth Family Bridge the Gap

Dear Friends & Family,

On July 25, our friend Matt Ashworth suffered a serious and totally unforeseen stroke.

He was just warming up for Jiu Jitsu when the stroke occurred and by sheer luck, one of his Jiu Jitsu brothers present that day is a registered nurse. He immediately recognized what was happening and because of his quick action and the action of Matt’s brothers at Marin MMA, 911 was immediately called and he was in the hospital within 15 minutes, saving his life.

Matt, Mere, Zander and Lula weathered the scariest chapter of their lives that weekend while navigating emergency surgeries, a flood of information from doctors and all the scary “what ifs.” While facing the ugliest “plot twist” (as Matt calls it), he was still so fortunate that this occurred in the gym where he was surrounded by his people and that he was able to receive the critical care he needed in time to not only to save his life, but put him on the best path to recovery. In true Matt form, he was not to be held down and within 3 weeks, had fought (maybe not literally) his way out of the hospital and into acute rehab.

Fortunately/unfortunately, Matt is still Matt. He is still the same southern hurricane filled with all the love, humor and insight as always. But he does have the biggest fight of his life to get his strength and mobility back. And in true Matt fashion, he’s got the throttle pegged and is redlining recovery.

Life continues to go on while he does this necessary work over the next several months.

Lula is starting at Oregon (Scooo Ducks!) in a few weeks and Zander is returning to Lewis and Clark to make music. Mere is producing the most amazing recovery, as you know she will.

Asking for help is hard.

But they need it for a bit while Matt gets back to working strength; while Mere navigates the ins and outs of our health care system and can’t focus on her new business. And while the kids continue being college students.

Anything you can give will help them cover expenses so they can focus on recovery without extra fears. Since Matt is freelance and unable to work while he recovers, there will be significant medical bills, transportation costs for Matt’s parents (who are helping full time), costs for meals (8 weeks of hospital food is beige at best) and more. They will forever be grateful and already feel the deepest gratitude to all who have supported them with food, rides, dog care, playlists, books, phone calls, texts, visits and the enormous amount of positive energy and prayers. It is all felt and it all matters so much ❤️