A Family in West Richland Needs Help

By in Miscellaneous with 2 Comments
Published on November 8, 2007 / Last updated on November 8, 2007

There is a child who was my son’s classmate at school this year.  He attended for about a week, then went on a trip to DisneyWorld with his family.  He came back to school after that, for one day.

He had had a persistent cough in December of ’06.  His parents took him to the doctor and they discovered he had lung cancer.  Stage 4.  At eight-years-old.

At Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA, he was treated with the known methods for kicking cancer’s ass – chemotherapy and radiation.  He was recovering.  Things were looking up for the family.  The trip to DisneyWorld and other Florida attractions were a Make-a-Wish fulfillment.  Awesome fun for a nine-year-old.

Back to the doctor two days after his return from Florida.  A full body scan at Sacred Heart revealed brain tumors.  Fifteen of them.  The cancer was spreading through his body at a rapid rate.  He had a few weeks left to live.

This kid has hung on, against all odds.  His neighborhood in West Richland held a Ride for Matthew.  Bikers rode from Flat Top Park to Matthew’s street.  Friends and family and firemen surrounded the boy to show support and caring.  The children offered gifts and the parents held back tears.  I know because I attended.

The family went to make funeral arrangements and discovered they didn’t have enough money for a funeral for their son.

If you have your health and a little bit of money, please consider donating to the Matthew Blacketter Fund at GESA Credit Union.  If every person who reads this blog donates $10, the fund will have over $250 at the end of the week as a result.

Go to any GESA office and tell them you want to donate to the Matthew Blacketter Fund.  They know what to do.

And if you have your health, and no money to spare, then pray.  Pray hard for this child and this family. 

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

2 Comments

  1. […] this month, I wrote about Matthew Blacketter, a nine-year-old, hanging on despite cancerous tumors spreading through his […]

  2. […] attention the story of a young kid battling the disease I despise. Before, I told you about Mathew Blacketter, and his brave battle, and eventual loss.  I know this has nothing to do with real estate, but it […]

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