[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 131 (Thursday, August 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MATTHEW BLADE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to tell you 
about a remarkable young man from my hometown of Springfield, IL. His 
name is Matthew Blade. In late May, Matthew graduated from Lutheran 
High School in Springfield as his class valedictorian. He was also the 
president of his senior class, president of his school's Spanish Honor 
Society and an Illinois State scholar. He was involved in theater and 
Madrigal singers and his school's praise band. He was a member of 
Students Against Destructive Decisions. Outside of school, Matthew 
volunteers at a local food pantry, and he is an Eagle Scout.
  If Matthew Blade had done nothing more, he would be exceptional. What 
makes Matthew's accomplishments even more extraordinary is that Matthew 
Blade spent half of his high school years battling bone cancer.
  He first felt the pain in his left arm when he was 15 years old, a 
sophomore. At first, he thought he might have pulled a muscle playing 
soccer. When the pain didn't go away, Matthew went in for x rays, then 
an MRI. The same day he underwent the MRI, Matthew and his parents, 
Doug and Tricia, received the devastating diagnosis. The pain in 
Matthew's arm was not a sprained muscles; it was most likely 
osteocarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
  What Matthew did next tells you a lot about his character. He went to 
school, didn't tell anyone about his diagnosis, took a biology exam--
and aced the test.
  But Matthew wasn't able to keep his diagnosis private for long. Over 
the next 9 months he underwent 18 grueling chemotherapy treatments. 
Each time, he had to be hospitalized for 4 or 5 days. His mom Tricia 
never left his side. Matthew lost his hair and his eyelashes. When he 
was up to it, he went to school, often pulling an I.V. bag on a pole. 
When he was too sick for school, he kept up with his lessons from home 
or from his hospital bed.
  What got him through those hard times, he said, was his faith, 
prayers, the love of his family, and ``great doctors and nurses'' at 
St. John's Hospital in Springfield and Children's Hospital in St. 
Louis. His other saving grace, he says, were his friends, who never 
treated him differently and helped him to feel like a normal kid, even 
at his sickest.
  Matthew undergoes scans every 6 months to monitor his health. His 
latest scans, in June, showed ``no detectable cancer.'' These days, his 
hair has grown back. He is playing soccer again. He is working this 
summer as a counselor at a church summer camp, working with little 
kids, ages 5 to 7.
  But the cancer changed Matthew in some ways. Early in his treatment, 
he had to have a 6-1/2 inch section of his left humerus bone--the long 
bone in his upper arm--removed, so he can no longer lift his left arm 
above his head. After the surgery, Matthew had to wear a sling, which 
made playing his guitar impossible, but Matthew adapted. He learned how 
to play the ukulele.
  Before his diagnosis, Matthew wanted to be a lawyer. Now, he wants to 
be a pediatric oncologist, to help other kids with cancer. He is 
looking forward to starting college in the fall at St. Louis 
University.
  In his valedictory remarks, Matthew told his classmates: ``Life--like 
a hike through the mountains--is full of peaks and valleys. The more 
time you spend in the valleys, the sweeter the peaks will seem.'' By 
his example, Matthew Blade has taught his classmates--and really, our 
whole town of Springfield--how to endure life's valleys, and how to 
cherish its peaks.
  I want to wish Matthew all the best on his accomplishment, and I know 
I am not alone in saying that I can't wait to see what he does with the 
rest of his remarkable life.

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