Matthew was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in his right distal femur (his knee) on February 11, 2014. We were devastated to hear this news. He had started complaining back in December 2013 that his knee hurt while playing basketball. We played it off as growing pains. But after a month of the pain not going away, we brought him to the doctor thinking he had a sports injury. To our surprise, we learned he had cancer. He went through 10 weeks of chemotherapy until May. Then he had surgery to remove the tumor with a procedure called Rotationplasty. This is where the diseased bone (femur & knee) is removed and his bottom half leg (tibia and foot) is brought up, turned 180 degrees and  attached to the upper part of his femur. His new "knee" is his heel and his knee joint is his ankle. He wears a prosthesis. It took some time for him to get use to walking with a prosthesis. But is now doing great with it! This radical surgery gives him the best chance of returning to an active life. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy protocol he was on did not work at killing the cancer cells. He then switched to another drug. He was on that drug for another six months. He finished treatment February 23, 2015. He currently gets CT scans of his chest to watch some nodules on his lungs. Our hopes are these are nothing and just some scar tissue from earlier childhood colds. Matthew loves to play soccer and basketball. He has recently returned to playing goalie and is swimming and can't wait to play basketball next winter. He is happy to be back at school with his friends.  We are so thankful for your support in raising money and awareness for childhood cancer!