Matt's Story
I never imagined lifting a terracotta pot could be such a wakeup call.
Chances are the story I’m about to tell is familiar to you in some way. It’s a story of normal life one day, to a medical diagnosis turning everything upside down.
Late last year, I strained my back moving a large pot. I’ve broken my ribs mountain biking before, and it felt just like that. Despite resting for a couple of weeks, the pain was getting worse and worse. My wife Alina insisted I see a GP.
She’s always there for me like that.
The doctor requested a scan which showed a hairline fracture in the T9 vertebrae of my spine. He asked if I had a family history of cancer. I told him dad had passed away at 65 with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. My GP ordered blood tests.
It’s crazy how quickly I deteriorated from there. Only days later, I could barely sit down.
I was referred to Dr Hang Quach, a haematologist at St Vincent’s. My first visit is etched into my memory. Dr Hang looked at my medical history and acted immediately. She gave me a phone number in case I needed to contact the team urgently.
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That night, the pain grew unbearable. I used the phone number Dr Hang gave me and was sent straight to the emergency department at St Vincent’s Hospital. They were expecting me.
It was Dr Hang who shared the shocking news: there was an extremely high chance I had multiple myeloma – the same blood cancer as my dad.
A scan revealed that my T9 vertebrae had fully collapsed and pinched my spinal cord. Multiple myeloma lives in bone marrow and eats away your bones like rust to metal. As it turns out, fracturing my vertebrae wasn’t a coincidence. It was a sign.
The news hit my family like a tonne of bricks. They were terrified for me and of what lay ahead. Having them by my side meant the world to me. I was determined to stay optimistic.
And having the personal, expert care of Dr Hang gave me tremendous reassurance too. Knowing I could call on her and she would be there for me in my time of need gave me strength.
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I spent two-and-a-half weeks in hospital during the first stage of my treatment plan. I completed 10 rounds of radiation therapy, took chemotherapy tablets and steroids. Later, I had weekly chemo injections at the Cancer Centre. I was hit by the most unpleasant symptoms. Fever. Nausea.
Something I did not expect to hit me so hard was losing my hair.
My wife first noticed the hair on my pillow. And then one day, when I was in the shower, I looked down at my hands and they were full of hair. It was so confronting. It was terrible, really terrible. I tried to salvage my hair, but in the end shaved it all off. I was nervous about how my colleagues might respond to my change in appearance.
I was booked in for a stem cell transplant in August. They hooked me up to the Apheresis machine which collects the necessary stem cells.
Please will you help more people access lifesaving stem cell replacement therapy by supporting the purchase of a new Apheresis machine?
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If you asked me how I got through all this, I’d say it was a combination of my positive attitude and my confidence in the St Vincent’s team. I knew they’d do everything in their power to give me the greatest care. The experience opened a depth of connection and conversation I never dreamt possible.
Between treatments, I’m now gently resuming normal life, taking pleasure in the little things like school pickups for my 10-year-old son.
I’ve got a long list of St Vincent’s staff I plan to send personal cards of thanks to. My gratitude goes out to everyone – from the doctors and nurses to the kind-hearted people serving me meals and cleaning the floors.
All of them stood with me and cared for me in their own way.
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As I spend time this Christmas relaxing by the sea with my family, bike riding, fishing and eating hot jam doughnuts, I feel optimistic about the future.
Because I know there’s people like you, supporting patients like me this holiday season.
Thank you!
Yours truly,
Matt Basso
