Matthew Peterson was enjoying the dog days of summer, his last hours of freedom in between graduating with the Vero Beach High School Class of 2016 and reporting for duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, when cancer intervened.
“He was diagnosed on his 19th birthday, Aug. 25, with Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” said his mother Leigh Peterson. By the time a lump rose on her son’s neck, prompting a series of doctor visits and initial misdiagnosis as an infection, the cancer was Stage 3.
Both of Peterson’s parents work, his mother in healthcare and father in construction, but they don’t have health insurance. When Peterson began treatment at Vero’s Scully-Welsh Cancer Center, Leigh Peterson said the hospital was very cooperative, slotting them into programs to help with their situation.
Members of the community have helped raise money for treatment, too, with the Indian River Shores Public Safety Department collecting $1,780 and contributors to a GoFundMe campaign donating more than $6,000 online.
“Matthew is an extraordinary kid with a big heart,” Toni Peterson said about her brother, praising him for his positive attitude and saying that doctors are optimistic Matt can beat cancer. “This devastating news prevented him from attending boot camp and has taken a huge emotional toll on all of us.”
Sgt. Shawn Hoyt, a career firefighter and police officer with the Shores, knows Peterson through his own children who are about Matt’s age. When Hoyt heard the bad news, he enlisted his co-workers in a No-Shave November challenge to benefit the Petersons.
Getting permission to waive the department’s strict clean-shaven policy was a bit tricky and took some mild arm-twisting. “When they came to me and wanted to do it, well, I hate cops with beards but it was for a good cause,” Shores Chief Rich Rosell said. “I am proud to be a part of this department and to work with these officers.”
Officers who wanted to participate chipped in cash and, after the month was over, held a celebration with Matt and his parents to present a check and show off their beards. The crew that makes up C Shift dressed as lumberjacks and posed with axes and a chainsaw to highlight their shaggy looks. The Petersons were bowled over.
“I can’t thank them enough,” Matt Peterson said, sporting a knitted cap in the photos, his own hair a victim of the chemo. Then Matt’s sister Toni started a GoFundMe page called “Matthew’s Chemotherapy Fund.” By the end of the year it had netted $6,280, mostly from local people.
The Petersons were hoping to get good news from an anticipated scan before Christmas, but the soft-spoken, lanky young man who still wants to become a Marine will have to wait a while longer for an all-clear.
“No, we didn’t get that news,” Matt said. “The doctors said they need to re-evaluate me and I’ve got four more chemo treatments. I get them on Wednesday and then I take the next Wednesday off. So that’s about two months.”
Each treatment takes around six hours, but the Petersons remain hopeful and grateful. “The fact that people who didn’t even know me would help like this, I just can’t believe it,” Matt Peterson said.
