Matt's Fight Against Oropharyngeal Cancer

Matt is a 41 year old dad of two, a loving son and a devoted partner. As a child he was your typical tough fearless little boy always looking for his next adventure. At age 11 life would give him one of the hardest challenges anyone would have to face in the form of a squamous cell carcinoma on his left vocal cord. At 11 he was one of the youngest people to have this diagnosis. After radiation he got the horrible news that it had spread to the right side and he would need further treatment that would impact him for the rest of his life. At age 13 he was sent for surgery to perform a laryngectomy which left with a permanent tracheostomy. At age 15 he relapsed, finding out he had cancer in the right side of his neck requiring a partial neck dissection to remove 35 lymph nodes. This was followed by 6 months of intensive chemotherapy, after which he was Cancer free and in remission. Despite the battles he faced nothing could ever stop him. He went on to finish year 12 and started working full-time in various positions at safeway and other supermarkets throughout his younger years before moving to the community service sector for the last 5 years. In 2005 he became a father to his son and then again in 2018 to his daughter completing his family dream all while still in remission and cancer free.

In the middle of August 2024 Matt woke up one day feeling like he had a chronic persistent sore throat that wouldn't go away. Antibiotics and steroids were ineffective and the pain was getting worse. His GP sent him for further testing and biopsies to be performed at the Royal Melbourne hospital which unfortunately came back positive to cancer for a third time. With Matt's previous history it doesn't leave many options for treatment. Due to this, on the 6/2/2025 Matt now has to go for invasive surgery to allow multiple procedures to be done. These surgeries will include a partial pharyngectomy, left and right tonsillectomy, left neck dissection, NGT insertion, 2x soft tissue free flap and access mandibulotomy to assist with removal and reconstruction. Matt and his family are local to the Wangaratta area which means he will be spending a lot of time away from them with a long road to recovery, rehabilitation and possible further treatments. This also means for the foreseeable future Matt is unable to continue working. Facing this long road ahead I'm making this page on his behalf to help ease some of the financial stress on him and his loved ones. As you can imagine this is an incredibly stressful time for everyone with so many unknowns as to what lies ahead. Any support would be greatly appreciated in this incredibly difficult time.