Marathoning for Matt

We made our goal!

Thank you for your generority! We finished the marathon in good time, and with the wind at our back, thanks to all your amazing support. Each one of you is helping to keep the spirit of Matt - that great guy to your left, smiling at you right now - alive...and that means the world to us.  Lissa and Ellen

We're running the 2009 Marine Corp Marathon in honor and memory of Matt Impett, a beautiful soul who was unfortunately diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia just before his 28th birthday. Despite the poor odds he was given from the outset, Matt took his disease in stride, brought his loved ones around him, and with straightforwardness, honesty, a never-ending sense of humor, and his camera always at his side, set out to make the most of the lot he had been given. 

Matt was an inspiration in how he lived his life before his illness, and only grew to be more of one during the arduous 2 1/2 years he spent fighting for his life. After multiple rounds of chemotherapy, full-body radiation, a bone marrow transplant, and countless other physically and emotionally draining experiences, Matt still managed to pass from this world with a smile on his face. He will always be close to the hearts of those of us lucky enough to have known him.

The specific circumstances that bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients and their families experience can be very challenging for a number of reasons, one of which is that treatment often entails relocation (sometimes across the country) for a period of months, which puts a significant financial burden on familes.

We have set up a fund in Matt's name to give financial support to family members/caregivers of bone marrow transplant patients. This fund will be managed by the BMT Infonet - read more about what this great organization does on the sidebar.

The monies from this fund will be granted to the caregivers most in need of financial support (need will be determined by hospital social workers) to pay for things like housing, food, unforeseen hospital bills not covered by insurance, and other such expenses that would otherwise mean that some family members would have to spend their time working rather than spending time with their loved one undergoing treatment.

Read below for more about why we chose to create this fund and why it speaks so much to who Matt was in this world. And please, support us in our effort to honor Matt's spirit by donating to the fund we have created.

With much gratitude,

Ellen Kittredge & Lissa Anderson

p.s. Matt had many talents and interests, but the one passion that stuck with him till his final days was his photography. Click here to see some of Matt's finest photographs, as well as more pictures of Matt and family.

p.p.s. If you would like to set up a matching grant or think that your company might match your donation, please let us know. We'd be more than happy to help you coordinate making this happen.

p.p.p.s. Your donation is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

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Message from Ellen - Why I'm Marathoning for Matt

Before Matt passed from this world he profoundly touched the hearts of many, mine, perhaps, most of all. You see, I was lucky enough to be Matt’s closest companion during this time, first his girlfriend, and in the final few months, his wife - a decision we did not make lightly, but that came after the long journey we’d taken together through the multiple hospital stays, the never-ending treatments, the hopeful remissions, the efforts to create normalcy in a time of constant upheaval – a decision made after all the time we had spent together crying, laughing, learning, loving, growing, and ultimately, living.

Thinking back on that sunny mid-August day in 2005, in the courtyard at Johns Hopkins, as Matt said goodbye to the fresh outside air for the next month, and he and his family and friends and I walked back inside the hospital to face the as-yet-unknown world of cancer treatment, we had no idea what the time ahead would bring. We didn’t know that the next 2 ½ years we’d spend together would bring us closer than I think either of us could possibly have expected, in a way that was undoubtedly tragic, yet also remarkably beautiful.

My decision to run a marathon came after Matt’s final relapse, in October 2007, while he was home resting and I was watching our friend Lissa run the Marine Corps Marathon. Somehow being there for Lissa and the many other thousands of people running that day, cheering them on as they put one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again, brought me closer to Matt’s experience. There are definite parallels to be drawn between the way he approached his illness - the strength and fortitude he showed throughout the entire journey - and the stamina it takes to train for and complete a marathon. I decided that day that I would one day run a marathon, and that I’d run it for Matt.

Matt was generous not just with time and money, but also with his spirit. When we were in Minneapolis in the summer and fall of 2006 as he was undergoing his bone marrow transplant, he commented many times about how lucky he was that he had so many supporting and loving people there with him. We were fortunate in that a generous health insurance policy and financial resources allowed for his parents and me to take the trip out there with him to be with him every day. We also saw his sister multiple times, as she made every effort she could to fly out from her home in California. Additionally we had multiple east-coast friends and family members come visit us during our 5-month stay in Minneapolis too.

There were others on the bone marrow transplant floor who had one sole care-giver and few visitors, and spent much of their time in their room alone. Matt was eternally grateful for our daily presence and loving support, even commenting that he felt guilty that he had it so “good” compared to so many others. How someone going through such an intense experience as a bone marrow transplant could think he had it “good” still makes me smile in wonderment at the depth of compassion he had for others.

We knew at the time that it was most often lack of financial resources that kept other families from being able to be there in their entirety with their loved ones. Often times families have to completely uproot and move across the country to get their loved one into the best hospital for treating their particular disease. The treatment lasts for many months, at least five or six on average, and this can be extremely draining to the bank account, not to mention the spirits, of everyone involved.

Even though Matt was only in my life for just over three years, I feel like I spent a life-time with him, and that is due in a large part to the fact that I was able to be with him for at least a part of (if not the entirety of) almost every single day from his initial diagnosis till his death. In that time together we learned more about each other and grew closer than many couples that have spent a lifetime together.

I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I had to get to truly know Matt in his entirety. At the time I did not know if I had days, months, years or decades left with him, but I did know that the only place I wanted to be was by his side, and I was lucky enough to be able to be there.

Thank you for making it possible for others journeying through a similar experience to spend their days where their hearts are. It really truly means so much. Please forward this page to anyone else you think might want to contribute to Matt’s fund, and thank you so much for your support of me as I prepare for race day, and keep putting that next foot in front of the other, in honor and memory of Matt and his spirit, and for all the others who are struggling today with the uniquely challenging experience of undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

- Ellen
 

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Message from Lissa - Why I'm Marathoning for Matt

Matt Impett was really good at convincing people to do things. Not always smart or wise things - he was just very persuasive.

So, I credit him with being the first one to convince me to sign up for a marathon. I remember going onto the New York Marathon website with him looking over my shoulder, entering the lottery for entry, and then immediately afterwards feeling a little panicked about what I had just done. He had made it seem like such a great idea! It'll be fun! But then I realized that, no, running 26 miles may not indeed be fun at all. I was a little annoyed with him. Maybe a lot annoyed.

But then, when the lottery results came out and I found that I had not gotten in, I was amazed to find myself more disappointed than relieved. I had actually gotten used to the idea that maybe crazy Matt was onto something here... that it would in fact be an incredible accomplishment that I would be proud to attempt.

I entered the lottery again the next year, of my own accord. And then again the year after that. That time, I got in. By then, Matt had been diagnosed with leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy, but I still called him from the finish line to tell him that I'd made it.

Matt was a dear friend, and because I have him partially to thank for inspiring me to run a marathon in the first place, and because I want to honor his memory with this fundraiser, it just seems right to do this for him. And I am so lucky that Ellen agreed to do it with me! Maybe convincing people to do crazy things is a habit that I will carry on for him... ;) This one's for you, monkey. - Lissa

 

NOTE: Matt chronicled his bone marrow transplant experience in an online blog during the months of June - December, 2006. You can read his entries here.