Matthew McDonald

11/16/2011

    Since we moved down to Florida Matthew has been doing good. Matthew has completed his Chemo and he travels to St. Jude every 3 months to get MRI’s to check on the status. He has the energy to keep pushing forward everyday. We have visited Key West, enjoying a sunset cruise, snorkeling, jet skiing and he almost went parasailing. He went to fish with Mark the Shark to catch a shark, but none biting that day instead caught 8 king mackerels and 5 Bonita fish still had a great day. Twice a week Matthew goes golfing and he finally beat his dad and his grandpa with his first birdie on the last hole, he was so happy we threw a party that day for him.

    Matthew really loves to fish, he and his dad goes out 2 to 3 times a week, pier fishing. Last week they caught 25 mackerels plus 1 six foot bull shark. But Matthew really loves catching bait fish and feeding the pelicans. He has been to Walt Disney Animal Kingdom, Medieval Times, Cirque Du Soleil, Billy Swamp Safari, Sawgrass swamp boat rides, extreme cart racing, laser tag, rode the zamboni at the Florida Panthers game and his favorite place Gator world. He conquered his fear with zip lining over the gator pits & walking on a rope bridge. Plus he was asked to be a member of Blue Crew paintball team a professional team. He played with Blue Crew this fall in PA at Castle conquest, in FL at hurricane paintball park “spacecraft” and was invited to play in FL at grand finale scenario. Matthew will be going to the Bahamas to stay at Atlantis and water slide down a tunnel thru a shark tank thanks to the Make A Wish Foundation.

    I want to thank everyone for all of their support and prayers. A lot of this could not be possible without your help. I never thought that Matthew could touch so many of your hearts, which has been shown through the money that was raised and still being raised. THANK YOU PORT HURON and all the HOCKEY community I can’t say enough.

    A special thanks to Owen Vance and his family for opening up your house and your hearts for us the McDonald family. You helped Matthew and the family; get through the day’s during the stay in Memphis TN. Matthew really loved the RIBS. We will always cherish the times and friendship that was made.

    A special thanks to Mike “Blue” Hanse from Blue Crew for making dreams come true. A smile on a Matthew’s face says a million words.

    To all of Matthew’s friends he misses all of you. If anyone would like to visit, and are in the area just call or email me at luckytigger5@yahoo.com .

Matthew’s next goal is to try to get back on the ice. He wants to teach his younger brother Mark how to skate.

God Bless,

The McDonald Family

6/21/2011

    Matthew is 3/4 the way through his treatments we have about 3 more wks left. He is handling radiation and chemo well! Not getting sick ,but feeling tired sometimes. His spirits are up and he's enjoying fishing.

    He got to hang out with his sister for about a week when she came here and now she is with grandma and he is laughing about all the crazy things his 2yr old brother mark daniel does everyday now that he is back from being with grandma for 2 wks.

    We took him to nashville over the weekend and had a great time ,and now he is looking forward to getting home. Thank you for all the prayers and support and we will keep u updated.

God Bless,

The McDonald Family

6/9/2011

    Matthew just completed 2 weeks of chemo and radiation. There has been little side effects . He is in great spirits and working hard at getting better.

    Matthew and the family wants to let everyone know that we appreciate the benefit's and fund raisers that everyone has put on. This helps us out in so many ways to make Matthew's time down at St. Jude more fun, less painful, and not so home sick. He misses his friends, and of course HOCKEY, that is all he is talking about.

    Matthew's time down here has been packed full of stuff to do. We went to Nashville to the Opreyland hotel and stayed the night (he wanted to stay in a 5 star hotel), he visited the Parthenon, rode on the General Jackson showboat, met Shotgun Red, and sat in the general lee at Cooter's garage.

    The following weekend we went to the RED BIRDS minor league baseball game and watched fireworks after the game. On Sunday we went fishing and caught some fish. Plus, we found a great church that we go to every Wednesday and Sunday service.

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Thanks for all your love and support

God Bless,

The McDonald Family