Matt’s Progress

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Almost 18 months after his injury Matt remains paralyzed from the chest down, confined to his bed or a sip-and-puff wheelchair, and in need of 24-hour care. With the cutting edge therapy he receives at Journey Forward, Matt perseveres in his battle to regain feeling and function in his arms and legs. With the support he has received from family, friends, the community, and hockey players and their families, beginning with the Boston Bruins and the entire Bruins organization, Matt has managed to stay positive and focused on recovery, and people continue to be moved and inspired by the spirit and determination with which he has faced this grave injury.

Another Milestone for Matt!

In procedures that took place yesterday and today at Children's Hospital, doctors removed Matt's feeding tube and trach completely. He will spend another night at Children's for observation and should be discharged Wednesday. Matt and his family are thrilled at this huge milestone. GO MATT BROWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read More | 1 year 22 weeks ago
Matt Has Been Home for Almost Two Months Now and is Doing Well

The first 2-3 weeks were spent figuring out the daily routine and what each day would be like. Matt has been very patient with his parents! He has a steady stream of visitors and it is a great pick me up for him.
 He is having tutors come in three times a week to catch him up on his school work and he attends physical therapy at Journey Forward twice a week for 2 hours each day - www.journey-forward.org - He loves it and the athlete in him sees it as a workout. The work they do there is fantastic. He will soon move to three days a week and we know it will do wonders for him.

Read More | 1 year 37 weeks ago
Heading Home to Norwood

Hello everyone! It’s moving day! We celebrated Matt’s graduation from Shepherd Center yesterday and will be departing Atlanta today and heading home to Norwood! Matt is very excited to get back home and can not wait to see family and friends! It has been an incredible 11 weeks here and Matt continues to work hard on his recovery. He will continue to work on his rehabilitation once he gets home and we look forward to many visitors!

Read More | 1 year 41 weeks ago
Hall Pass

We now are in our 9th week at the Shepherd Center and Matt continues to show progress in his rehabilitation. Over the last three weeks he has had a steady stream of visitors in addition to celebrating his 16th Birthday on April 11th. He has had cousins, aunts and uncles, friends and his Grandfather make the trip to Atlanta and these visits are a great source of strength and inspiration for Matt. He feeds off the visits from friends and family and the results are obvious. I wish you could all see in person how far Matt has come in such a short time.

Read More | 1 year 43 weeks ago
Busy Three Weeks

The last three weeks have been very busy for Matt. He continues to work with his therapists on getting stronger and he has shown some good progress. He is eating more and getting stronger and we continue to focus on getting as many calories into him every day. Their goal is to get him taking in 1500 calories a day and we are up to around 800-900 per day. It is important to “feed the engine” as this will give him more energy and allow him to get the most out of his therapy sessions.

Read More | 1 year 45 weeks ago
Right place for Matt

It has been just over three weeks since Matt arrived in Atlanta and the Shepherd Center to begin his rehabilitation. It was apparent from the first day that we are in the right place for Matt. Within an hour of his arrival they had him working his TV and had a nurse call button using sip and puff technology - establishing independence for him. The next day he was up in a powered wheelchair and can control his sitting position and drive it himself using the same technology. The staff of doctors, nurses and therapists have been great and Matt said he likes it here.

Read More | 1 year 48 weeks ago
Baby steps to recovery

Hi all, Matt's mom again.... Matt moved to Atlanta last Wednesday (2/17/10). He has settled in nicely. He was originally in the ICU but has since been moved to a "regular" rehab floor. They have had Matt out of bed for extended periods of time and he has also spent increasing periods of time off the respirator. Baby steps to recovery!!

Read More | 1 year 52 weeks ago
Hello from Atlanta

Our thanks to the men and women of Medflight who brought Matt to Atlanta - Boston Air Charter, you ROCK! Matt is in the ICU here at Shepherd Center and will stay until Monday. He will then transfer to the regular floor and begin his PT routine. He has told us he likes it and the people we have met and the Doctors and Nurses who are caring for him are fantastic. Most of the focus has been on diet(getting solid food into Matt's diet) and breathing. He has been up in a wheelchair for 2 hours, been breathing on his own for up to 45 minutes and has been introduced to "sip and puff" controls.

Read More | 2 years 2 days ago
Tracheostomy surgery went well

Last Friday Matt had a tracheostomy and the surgery went well. This procedure allows matt to continue to work on his breathing but more importantly allows him to be transferred to the Shepherd Center Rehabilitation center in Atlanta to begin his recovery. The Shepherd Center is regarded as one of the finest rehabilitation centers in the country and have a tremendous recovery history for spinal cord patients. In addition they focus on adolescents and there will be other teenagers who have suffered spinal cord injuries there, so he will be working along side other kids his age.

Read More | 2 years 1 week ago