Going to bat for Matt N. Strabane community rallies around family during 12-year-old’s scary medical ordeal
Matt Graeber’s Wolfpack teammates wore wristbands this summer emblazoned with Matt’s initials and number after the 12-year-old was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC with a deep brain abscess that had burst into his left ventricle.
Family, friends and neighbors organized a welcome-home party for Matt Graeber at his North Strabane Township home.
The Wolfpack posted this photo on Facebook, along with get-well wishes, in honor of their teammate, Matt Graeber.
Matt Graeber awaits a pitch.
Matt Graeber on the mound for the Wolfpack
Matt Graeber, 12, poses for a portrait. The photo accompanied an estimated 165 thank-you letters that were sent to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, teammates and medical staff following Matt’s medical ordeal.
By the time she’s done, Teressa Graeber estimates she will have sent 165 thank-you notes to friends, family, teammates, neighbors, co-workers and medical staff.
And all of the heartfelt words are for giving Teressa and her husband, Jeff, the most precious gifts of all: prayers and support during their 12-year-old son’s scary medical ordeal.
On June 8, Matt Graeber was taken by helicopter to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh UMPC. Four days later, the Graebers learned that Matt had a deep brain abscess that had burst into his left ventricle. It was nearly the size of a ping-pong ball, and the prognosis wasn’t encouraging.
An infectious disease specialist gave Matt a 50-50 chance of survival. A neurosurgeon told Jeff that he “never saw anybody arrive alive.”
But after spending a total of 32 days in the hospital on three separate occasions and completing a nine-week IV antibiotic treatment, the Canonsburg Middle School student was released by his doctors Aug. 11 with no restrictions.
Throughout the summer, the entire community rallied around the family, sending get-well cards, emails and gift cards, preparing meals, mowing their lawn, doing laundry and baby-sitting the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, Julia. A rousing welcome-home party, complete with balloons and homemade posters, that was organized by their friends and neighbors in North Strabane Township drew close to 100 people.
“We’d specifically like to thank everyone for their unending prayers,” Teressa wrote in her thank-you letter. “It is not lost on us that Matt’s situation was very much in God’s hands to help him make it through. The handmade prayer blanket, prayer lists, Masses and candles lit in Matt’s name all made a difference.
“A debt of gratitude is also due to the fantastic staff of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The care that Matt received was simply perfect and a blessing in itself.”
Matt became sick with a headache on June 6, just hours after he and his Wolfpack teammates completed a doubleheader at the Cal Ripken Baseball Experience in Baltimore.
By early Sunday morning, the pain was so excruciating that Matt began to vomit.
“He was shaking. He was really bad,” Teressa said.
However, she and Jeff thought Matt was experiencing a migraine or had a bad sinus infection. “He has a history of migraines and sinus infections, but he had an MRI in December 2014, and everything was fine,” Teressa said.
The Graebers considered taking Matt to an emergency medical clinic in Baltimore, but eventually the pain eased a bit. “It wasn’t until 12:30 in the afternoon that we could even move him,” said Jeff, adding that it was a “very long” five-hour ride home to Washington for the family.
On Monday, when Matt complained that his neck hurt, Teressa took him to the emergency room, where doctors discovered a lesion on his brain.
He was rushed to Children’s Hospital and admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, where, for three nights, doctors kept a close watch on him. Not once, though, did they give Matt any pain medication.
“They didn’t want it to affect his cognitive abilities,” Teressa said. “They wouldn’t even do a spinal tap. They wanted to make sure he could respond.”
As the hours, then days, passed, doctors remained optimistic.
An MRI, however, changed everything.
“The MRI tech came out. You could tell he had been crying because his eyes were swelling up,” Jeff said. “At that point, I thought, ‘This is pretty bad.'”
Yes, it was. Matt received morphine as needed, and a steady stream of medical staff came knocking on his door. “The doctors told us it’s common, but very rare; it’s common until you have a major problem,” Jeff said.
“Doctors kept saying he was stable, given the situation,” said Jeff, explaining the staff was expecting Matt to “go downhill” with possible paralysis.
The news was not what Matt’s parents wanted to hear.
“You’re hanging in because you have no other choice. It was a lot to digest,” Teressa said.
Matt was placed on several antibiotics and an antiseizure medication, and on day four, he began taking oxycodone along with the morphine. He remained on the oxycodone until June 21.
“The doctors said that unless he changes for the worse, they were taking a conservative approach because the abscess was in the deep center of his brain,” Teressa said.
Matt experienced good days and bad days. On good days, he would play dome hockey. At night, he faithfully followed the Pittsburgh Pirates. “If he couldn’t watch the game, he listened,” Jeff said.
And as “luck” would have it, Andrew McCutcheon, the Pirates star center fielder, visited Children’s Hospital during Matt’s stay, chatting with the youngster and drawing him a picture. The two were photographed together, and when McCutcheon recently received Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award, the hospital congratulated him by posting the photo of he and Matt on its Facebook page.
Matt was discharged from the hospital on June 26, but 48 hours later, he spiked a fever and had to return to the hospital. He spent another six days at Children’s, and wasn’t home a week when the severe pain returned and he became sick.
The next morning, surgeons drilled a hole in his head and inserted a shunt to drain the fluid.
“That’s the only time he was upset,” Jeff said. “He said, ‘Daddy, will I still like buffalo wings?'”
Matt lost 20 pounds during his illness, and he was required to take physical therapy to rebuild his strength. His latest MRI and checkup in September showed that the abscess has shrunk considerably, and his left brain ventricle is slowly healing.
“He said he was tired of people worrying about him,” Teressa said.
In her thank-you letter, Teressa wrote that Matt “never complained, despite times of intense pain and sickness. He kept fighting to get healthy and complied with everything the doctors asked him to do.” The only time Matt was unhappy, Teressa said, was when he had the drain in his head.
Matt played fall baseball, and upon his return, he hit three home runs. He sent the first home-run ball and a very poignant letter to McCutcheon. Matt said he’s feeling fine now, and he’s doing well in school.
Matt has just one more hurdle to clear, and that’s another MRI in December to determine how the ventricle is healing.
“As the days go by, we’re less and less on pins and needles,” Jeff said.