A Message from Matt

 
Hello! I'm Matt

 
 
Hi, my name is Matt. I'm almost two years old in this picture, and my family is very curious about how I'll be treated when I start school in a few years. You see, I have a trach and it needs cleaning out occasionally so my breathing can be pretty noisy. 

Do you know what a trach is? Very few kids do. It's this metal tube that goes into my neck so that I can catch my breath. Of course most people don't need such a metal tube, but I do. If I didn't have one of these, I would have a very hard time getting enough air, so I guess that I'm glad that I have it! 

Right now I'm about the size of a 1 yr old, and with my medical problems, I'll never be big enough to climb the stairs of a schoolbus. I may never get very big the way most of you are, but I do have a great big giant heart, and I think that  you'd really like me a lot!

I don't talk yet but everybody thinks that when I do, I'll have a high voice. 

Well, goodnight, I've had a long day. If I see you in school in a few years, I hope that you'll be nice to me, even if I sound a little squeaky and am much littler than you are. 
I can't wait to meet you! 

                      Love, Matt


 
Here I am in my crib!

 
Well, that was me then. Check me out now, in August, at the bottom of the page.  I have improved so much since I last wrote.

Guess what...I'm going to start school on my third birthday--September 28th.  Everyone's working hard to try to get rid of the trach I told you about, and even though I still can't speak, I CAN sign and I make some pretty interesting sounds to try to tell everyone what's up. 

I still use a walker, but only when everyone makes me...not my favorite thing to do. You should meet my sister. She treats me like...well, like any big sister would. She's two years older than I am. Sometimes we're friends and sometimes we fight! 

Thanks again for visiting my page. Love, Matt


 

 
 To the frog ponds
To visit some other kids

Joan Fleitas, Ed.D., R.N.
Associate Professor of Nursing, Lehman College, CUNY
Bronx, New York 10468

Last updated: November 14, 2004