Matthew Cook

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


On August 14th, our world was turned upside down as Matthew, our 35 year old youngest son was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome. Matthew and Ashli have been married for three years and have an adorable 14 month old baby girl, Abigail. They built a beautiful home in Lebanon, TN on five acres with a view of the Tennessee hills that displays God’s creation a couple of years ago. Matthew has always been a hard worker and has enjoyed building a chicken coop on the property and has established quite the garden spot, and even started a little grape vineyard. Mowing and caring for his 5 acres is not for the faint of heart. Matthew dreamed of running a marathon in the late fall and had been training this year for the race. He had worked up to a 17 mile run recently.

Never in a million years would we have imagined that this ugly disease would have stricken this healthy 35 year old young man. Throughout this last month, we have witnessed the power of prayer take us through the unknown and many trials and tribulations. We will forever be indebted to our family and friends who have walked with us and provided support through food, donations, calls, texts, and most of all prayers. We have claimed and clung to many of God’s promises and are currently in the process of waiting on God and trusting in his will. Please pray with us in this journey as we wait and trust in the Lord. “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31 

We will post updates on Matthew’s journey here. I am working backwards on the posts here, so you may need to read from the bottom up. Remember to click read more for the entire post or sort by oldest.