Help Mina raise money

Meet Our Hero: Matteo Fiamengo

Condition: Leukemia

Matteo is a competitor. He is an avid hockey player and an important part of his team. The hockey season was still in full force in March 2018 and Matteo had participated in every practice and played every game. But he started feeling unwell and displayed symptoms of fever, swollen belly, bruises on his legs and constantly feeling tired. So unwell, in fact, that one day he called his mother from the hockey arena and told his parents "I need to go the hospital". A visit to Sick Kids did not uncover anything suspicious and it was confirmed he was constipated.

It took several visits to the pediatrician's office and two visits to the naturopath that in May 2018, Matteo's mother demanded bloodwork and an abdominal ultrasound as per naturopath. The lab called the following day and classified Matteo's bloodwork as urgent. We were notified that Matteo had an enlarged spleen and to stop all physical activity and was sent immediately to Sick Kids where it was confirmed by a bone marrow sample that Matteo had leukemia. The family learned that this was the beginning of a difficult battle.

Once at The Hospital for Sick Children, with the diagnosis of leukemia confirmed, Matteo immediately started intensive chemotherapy. The treatment hit him hard and he suffered many side effects including: fevers, anaphylactic reactions to blood transfusions, nausea, severe jaw pain; and pancreatitis.

Gradually, as Matteo gained physical strength he also gained strength from the support he received from family, friends, his hockey team and other children he met who were going through the same procedures, tests, pokes and prods as he was enduring.

Matteo missed being on the ice and with the approval of his oncologist and his father, the assistant coach, he began attending the summer hockey practices in July/August 2018. He was in severe pain and extremely tired as the steroids had stripped Matteo's calf muscles and he did not have the stamina he previously had. Slowly, but surely, Matteo continue to attend his weekly practices and hockey is the one thing that kept his spirit alive and the strength to keep fighting leukemia. He would come home in tears of agony and horrible leg cramps and pain all over his body. His mother would massage his legs and arms and apply hot compresses, but our hero never gave up. And in the fall, he participated in the games! The City of Vaughan Rangers and his hockey team

coaches and fellow players, cheered Matteo and with the permission of the league, a swatch was created and embossed on all the hockey team jerseys, labelled Matteo Strong 9, Leukemia Awareness on the orange ribbon. It was a tear jerking moment for Matteo's parents; coaches and teammates. Matteo and his family were deeply touched by this gesture and all the support Matteo had received and continues to receive.

Soon Matteo began to reach out to some of the other children he saw in the hospital who were upset and frightened and he began to tell them that things would get better. Matteo told his parents that he wanted to make a difference and help raise awareness and money for childhood cancer.

In January 2019, Matteo entered the phase of treatment called maintenance, which entails three years. Maintenance is critically important as, if not completed, there is a very high likelihood that the leukemia will return. Matteo now takes the majority of his chemotherapy orally, taking up to 18 medications a day depending upon where he is in the cycle. Every two weeks he goes to hospital to have either: chemo via his port; lumbar punctures in spine on Days 1 and 29 of his cycle and bloodwork to monitor his blood counts.

Matteo returned back to school, on a full time basis in February 2019, as he was homeschooled from September 2018 to January 2019. Matteo continues to compete on the ice and he continues to inspires his teammates and others. He wants to help other kids like him who get cancer and show them you can defeat cancer and fight back! He wants to help other kids deal with the procedures; needles; port insertion and he wants to help SickKids find cures for childhood cancers!

Matteo participated in many charitable events and was awarded the John R. Gardner Special Recognition Award in June 2019, for players who have overcome adversity and continue playing hockey.  Matteo ended treatment a year earlier, due to the new leukemia protocols, and, on November 20, 2020, Matteo officially rang the bell at Sick Kids.  He had his port removed in December 2020 and is now in remission. In 5 years, we are hopeful and excited that Matteo will be considered cancer-free at that point."