Matthew’s Story

Site created on September 14, 2021

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.

 

Newest Update

Journal entry by Matthew Cook

Since the last post my body has done well following my last plex treatment. My symptoms haven’t reverted back and I’ve continued improving. Today I was so excited because I got my tunneled vas catheter removed, which was used for the plex treatments. I was discharged from my last home health rehab last week. When speaking with my speech therapist on my discharge she said I’m ok to discontinue speech therapy all together which is wonderful! My facial movement and speech was such a worry for me and I’m so grateful for the healing! Tomorrow I have my first outpatient physical therapy and honestly I feel like now that my line is out that I’m nearing the end of this road in my journey. I pray that I will remember and hold close to my heart the the ups and downs. Through out all of this I’ve sought God and at times it’s been really scary and others overwhelming with joy. This has been an experience that has taught me a lot. I’ve had ups and downs in my life before and a reading that rings true again as I reflect on this is Psalms 23 I love and cherish it. I think this will probably be one of my last posts here and I just want to thank everyone for there support and prayers through out all of this! 
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