Lynnette's Leukemia Love

My beautiful friend

Lynnette (Griffith) Matheny is one of my best friends and has been since we met our senior year of high school 15 years ago. I quickly learned she was strong, hard-working, caring, smart, hilarious and beautiful in every way. She is a Real Life Wonder Woman.

In 2007, Lynnette had to prove her strength by beating a brain tumor that had finally caused her to pass out while showering after months of terrible headaches. She woke on the bathroom floor, naked and wet as the
shower still ran, and began a fight for her life.

Her old boyfriend and long-time friend, Doug Matheny, found his way back to her side as Lynnette endured surgery to remove the cancerous tumor. The years that followed brought fear, pain, hair loss, the possibility of never being able to have children and even more uncertainty.

Lynnette preparing to skydive, or as she said, "Two bald eagles about to take flight!" 

Lynnette and Doug after her cancer treatments

Lynnette fought cancer while never missing a shift at work as she completed simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation treatment. She waited anxiously in the years that followed to find out if she was cancer- free.

Thankfully, she was.

In September 2010, Lynnette and Doug were married. They had their son, little Doug, the following year. Later in 2011, they bought their first home in Charleston, WV.

The Mathenys!!!

Lynnette with her daddy

Lynnette with her sister, Samantha

Lynnette and me

Life was good. Lynnette spent her time working, visiting and helping her daddy, cooking for family and friends, gardening, crafting, working on her lovely home and being an awesome wife and mommy to her Dougs.

Little Doug and his mommy, Lynnette

Then, in June 2015, Lynnette started feeling exhausted all of the time. Her usual energy and hard work disappeared as she suffered bouts of intense pain. Some days she was unable to walk or even move her legs
unless she picked them up with her hands.

The doctors sent her home after two handfuls of tests with $35,000 in medical bills and a supposed clean bill of health. The misery continued.

Finally, on September 28, Lynnette checked herself into the hospital with resolve that she wasn't leaving until they found out what was wrong.

Another round of blood tests revealed the awful truth

Two days later, on September 30, Lynnette was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Within days, she had surgery to place a port in her chest to deliver 21- day bouts of intensive chemotherapy that start Monday October 5 (tomorrow, as I write this). They will place another port in the side of her head soon so they can deliver chemo straight to her brain. The oncology floor at CAMC will be her home during these treatments that will last for at least 6 months. Even then, she has at least 2 years of chemotherapy to anticipate.

Lynnette spent nearly an hour yesterday reading me the side effects of four of the medications that will soon be coursing through her body. Her humor remains strong as we discussed her simultaneous weight loss and gain, swelling, nausea, strange thoughts/feelings, shortness of breath, heart and lung damage, pain, weakness, and so much more.

But she is ready to begin this second fight for her life. This time it's harder on body and spirit and wallet, but she will win again.  She has even more to fight for this time.

Lynnette and her Dougs

Little Doug holding his first fish

We can't give her the time she is missing with her family. We can't keep her from missing out on special moments with little Doug. We can't take away the pain and sickness and risk she has to suffer to keep her life. We can't help her get back to work any sooner or give her back the days she already had to miss when she couldn't walk.

But we CAN help alleviate some of the financial worries for Lynnette and her family. This is a woman who works hard for everything and is very responsible with money. But even with good insurance, the medical bills that she previously paid off will keep mounting. Hard-earned savings is depleting rapidly. The car she can't drive but needs still has a payment. The house she can't sleep in still has a mortgage that she had been agressively paying down with plans to pay it off within 7 years. Childcare  expenses will grow as Lynnette is no longer able to pick up little Doug from preschool. Big Doug must struggle to be a single dad in finance and function while he worries endlessly about the love of his life. 

Doug and Lynnette -  better halves to one another for nearly 15 years

This family deserves all the help we can give them. Every donation will be appreciated. No amount is too big or too small.

Please share and spread the love to help Lynnette and her family fight leukemia and win back her life.