Back from the brink Back from the brink (January 28, 2005)

Teenager beat deadly cancer

By Julie O'Shea

Six years ago, the Silverman family got the worst news of their lives: their eldest son, Matt, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a fast growing and deadly form of cancer.

When doctors finally figured out what was wrong with Matt, the cancer was already at stage IV with tumors that spread from his head to his toes.

Things looked pretty horrible in the beginning. But it was Matt, then a freshman at Mountain View High School, who reminded his family never to let go of hope.

"I didn't think he had much of a chance. It was pretty miserable," admitted Matt's mom, Anna. "I know how dark things look. I know how hard it is to hope. ... But you just have to look past those awful feelings."

That's exactly what the Silvermans were able to do. And last month, Matt, now a 21-year-old chemical engineering student at UCLA, was declared cancer-free.

The family credited his health to everyone in Mountain View who reached out to their son and brother during his cancer treatment and recovery.

"When Matt was diagnosed, our entire community came to our support. Everyone wanted to help, even people we didn't know," Anna Silverman said. "Of particular help were the parents and teachers of Mountain View High School and Graham Middle. Without them, we would not have survived."

After Matt got sick, many of his teachers spent hours sitting by his hospital bed, which meant so much to Matt and his recovery, his mother said.

Matt was a fighter in his own right. During his treatment, he chose to take on the AP classes and insisted his parents drive him to class whenever he was well enough to go.

"Matt learned because he wanted to learn. He thrived on challenge, which, considering the circumstances, was fortuitous, to say the least," Katie Thornburg, the science department coordinator at Mountain View High, wrote in an e-mail. "Along with his considerable intellectual and emotional maturation as he grew from freshman to high school grad, he never lost the excitement of learning and discovery."

Most kids in his situation fall a year behind, but not Matt. Despite a full year of grueling chemotherapy treatment, he still managed to graduate with his class in 2002. Today Matt said he wants to do cancer research when he graduates from college.

"It really wasn't that big of a deal," Matt said of his ordeal. "I think I just focused on keeping up with the rest of my life.

"I don't really remember the first couple of weeks. I don't think I was scared -- not nearly as much as my parents."

Doctors don't know what caused the cancer. The disease isn't genetic, and the only signs of trouble came in the form of backaches. At first, doctors thought Matt simply had a sprained back. It wasn't until he had an MRI exam that they discovered they were dealing with something a lot more serious. Tumors were plaguing his body, with five on his spine alone.

Matt's mom fainted when she heard the news. She hadn't heard of any child with that aggressive form of the disease make it. But however grim the situation looked, doctors at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital assured the Silvermans that things weren't hopeless. Matt, the oldest of three children, had a 75 percent chance of surviving, his parents were told.

"With cancer, there is nothing but trauma," Anna Silverman said. "You always want to hope for the best, but it is hard."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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