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Terminally Ill High School Senior To Graduate Sunday

By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

EDWARDSBURG — It's graduation weekend for students in a number of schools across the area. And In Edwardsburg, it'll be a very special commencement for one senior in particular. For 18 years, he didn't know whether he'd live to see it.

Matthew Boyer can count the number of times he's nearly died. “Nine. Nine, nine times,” he said. “I wasn’t supposed to make it past 14.” His mom says the trouble began as an infant. Matthew was having major gastrointestinal problems that didn’t go away. “When I had him, everything looked OK and they sent us home and the first sign that we had issues was minor,” said Tammy Boyer, Matthew’s mom. “We thought it was a normal baby who was having formula issues.” By age four, his large bowel had shut down and had to be removed. The trouble continued off and on as he grew up with too many hospital visits to count and nearly a dozen surgeries.

This spring, doctors finally learned what was wrong. Matthew had been born with only half of what he needed for a fully-functioning gastrointestinal system. Doctors told parents Matthew’s smaller bowel was shutting down, too.

“I said ‘how long do we have?’ And she said it could stop tomorrow, it could stop five years from now. We don’t know,” said Tammy. Doctors say he’ll likely need a four-organ transplant to survive. “With what Matthew has, he cannot live long-term with the small bowel he has. So he’s gonna need the transplant,” she said. “He’s gonna need something to live long-term or he won’t be here long-term.”

But Matthew says he doesn’t let it get him down. He never has. “You just plan like a normal person does. I mean you don’t let a disease control your life. You can’t do that or you’d be just like a hermit or something, just waiting or like in depression or whatever,” Matthew said. “That’s just a waste of time.”

Every year, even though he had to miss weeks and months of school at a time, Matthew has been able to keep up with his class and last week, he took his finals on pain medication from a hospital bed.

“With friends, cousins, staff support, community support, Matthew’s been able to continue to have a positive attitude and the attitude he has,” Tammy said. “And he continued to keep going and even as a young child said ‘Mom I want to graduate with my class. I want to stay with my class. I know I can do it.’”

This weekend, at Edwardsburg High School, Matthew Boyer will. “It’ll be happy. That’ll be a great day,” Matthew said.

“Even with obstacles in your life, no matter how big they are, you can still have an amazing life. But you have to be positive and you have to look up,” said Tammy.

After Matthew graduates Sunday, he and his parents will return to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to talk to his doctors about the plan to move forward.

By the way, he's been accepted to Bethel College where he plans to begin freshman classes in the fall.