Matthew Linehan

It all started on a family camping trip to Maine. I was five years old and I felt fine for the first couple of days. Around the third or fourth day I stated feeling sluggish and tired. Everything I was trying to do was getting harder like walking, eating and even staying awake.

My parents cut the trip short and brought me to a local hospital where they pretty much told my parents it was the flu. My father decided to take me to Children’s Hospital in Boston, and on the second day i was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

I was only five years old when I was diagnosed with A.L.L. I had no idea what they were talking about. I had to find out the hard way with Chemotherapy, spinal taps, and radiation treatment . It was a pain that no one should have ever have to go through. But you have to take that pain and turn it in to something positive.

From the moment I was diagnosed I was told that to win this battle I would have to fight. Even at my lowest low, I was told not to give up and to stay in the fight.

That was thirty-one years ago and I’m still going strong. My best advice is to stay in the fight, don’t give up, be positive and BE RELENTLESS!