Colleagues help Mt. Lebanon volunteer firefighter as he battles leukemia
As the cold weather hits and the days grow shorter, many of us start to feel the effects.
Such was the case for Matt Kelsey in mid-December as he reported for work in the emergency room at St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon. For a few weeks, he had been fighting what felt like the flu, and his colleagues recommended that he have his blood tested.The eventual diagnosis for the 32-year-old Mt. Lebanon Fire Department volunteer was acute myeloid leukemia, a relatively rare type of cancer that usually afflicts senior citizens.
“Obviously, we were totally shocked,” his sister Margaret Kelsey said. “He’s been a healthy guy, really active in firefighting. He does all the tests to keep up-to-date and certified.”
His fellow firefighters are fighting on Matt’s behalf with a couple of events they’ve organized.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 11, a replenishment blood drive for Green Tree-based Central Blood Bank will be held in his honor at the Mt. Lebanon Public Safety Center, 555 Washington Road.
“It took 30 units of donated blood to keep me alive, and for that reason I’m asking the community to help to replenish our local blood supply so that others with this disease and similar diseases can accomplish what I plan to do; live through the experience and get back on my feet,” Matt said via a Central Blood Bank release.
Mt. Lebanon firefighters also plan a fundraising spaghetti dinner from 2 to 7 p.m. March 4 in the Bridgeville Fire Department’s Chartiers Room.
“We’re really looking forward to being able to have an opportunity to help him in the way he has helped others, in what is now his hour of need,” volunteer firefighter Patrick McRee said.
With Matt looking at about a year of treatment and recovery before he can return to work, Margaret set up a crowdfunding page, www.gofundme.com/help-matthew-kelsey-kick-amls-butt, that raised $6,000 in the first 24 hours.
“It’s been fantastic to see,” she said. “Even people who haven’t met him have been super-generous.”
She reported that at first, her brother resisted the effort, “until all the bills started coming in. It’s hard for him to be on the other side of getting help. He’s always been the helper.”
And he’s the type who helps himself.
“He would actually walk all the way across Mt. Lebanon to get to his job, because he and his fiancée had been saving up for their wedding,” McRee said. “They’ve been trying to save all the money they can to get ahead in the world, and then something like this happens, and you really feel for them.”
Sam Logsdon was scheduled to marry Matt in October, but they have postponed the wedding until 2018.
“They really wanted to be able to enjoy it fully,” his sister explained.
In the meantime, he faces at least four rounds of consolidation chemotherapy – once a month, he’ll be admitted to the hospital for six days – and there’s a good chance he’ll need a bone marrow transplant at some point.
To help him further with his situation, nurses and emergency room technicians at St. Clair Hospital have donated vacation hours to Matt, bringing him up through mid-March.
“We’re in for a fight,” Margaret Kelsey said. “But with his attitude and the support he’s gotten, we’re very hopeful.”
garding the Feb. 11 blood drive, donation appointments are suggested but walk-ins are welcome. To schedule an appointment, call Valerie at 412-874-5908 or visit centralbloodbank.org, click “Make an appointment” and search with group code Z0020993.