Inaugural run for #TeamMatt on June 3, 2023 in Slinger, WI | By Sandra Pfund

Matt’s story is below.

My name is Sandra Pfund. We lost our son November 17, 2022, to a rare form of cancer found on his right hip. He had been in pain since October at the end of his sophomore soccer season. Little did we know that would be his last game ever.

Matt had been playing soccer since he was 5 years old. Soccer was his passion.

Matt was first diagnosed on February 10, 2020, and then COVID hit. In spite of COVID, that did not stop the Slinger Community from pulling getting together and showing us love and support, with a meal train, gift cards, prayers, and the most amazing 16th Birthday parade of more than 175 cars.

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What started with just an invite for the Slinger High School soccer team/friends, friends from our church Morning Star, and our neighbors, turned into something much bigger than I would have ever imagined.

We had our whole Sherman Heights neighborhood along with the Pleasant Farms neighbors, Slinger Fire Department, Slinger Speedway, even some players from the Milwaukee Waves who came to see Matt too.

It was definitely a memorable day for Matt and our family and that was just the first glimpse of a community getting together to help us through those hard times.

Matthew fought a good fight, enduring 4 rounds of chemo, 24 rounds of radiation, and 4 different types of feeding tubes to help him gain weight for his huge surgery that was supposed to happen in July of 2020.

Unfortunately, due to his loss of weight, the surgery had to be postponed to August, where he went into it not knowing if he was going to come out with a leg or not.

They were able to save his leg, removing part of his hip, while taking all of the tumor out.  Doctors reattached his leg to ligaments, which meant he would lose 2 inches of height on that leg.

No sooner did they let him out of the hospital after intensive PT, he was back on the soccer field, but this time not as a player, but as Captain of the team for his junior year.

In his senior year, the Slinger Owls made him Manager of the team, and through it all he never missed a practice or a game all while going through chemo and PT.

He could have quit all together, as I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to watch his teammates on the field while he watched from the sidelines, but he never complained and held on to his strong faith until the very end, with his friends right alongside of him.

They all still come over to our house on Matt’s anniversary to his heavenly home for pizza. It’s music to our ears to hear them catch up while being all together again and it’s like having Matt here with us for that moment through the laughs and voices of his friends. They are truly special, and we feel very blessed.

September of 2022, we were going to head to Boston for a chemo trial, but Matt’s cancer started to get worse, and he was no longer able to travel, so that treatment was no longer an option.

The cancer had already traveled to his lungs from the very beginning, but the chemo pills were keeping it all at bay until they stopped working and the cancer came back to his hip and then spread to his head.

As his lungs started getting worse, he eventually lost the fight, or depending on how you see it, he won that fight as he is in a better place and no longer in pain or suffering.

But he didn’t leave before having a live funeral with all of his friends and loved ones, and greatly impacting the Slinger/ Jackson communities. He was so loved and looked up to for his resilience. The nurses and doctors at Children’s also still remember him lovingly.

As he got worse in October of ’22, he was in and out of Children’s Hospital, and on one of those times while coming home we were welcomed with a neighborhood and community filled with #TEAMMATT signs. A day that we will forever cherish and hold dear to our hearts. This community is truly AMAZING.

But it doesn’t end there. Just last week the Slinger girls soccer team dedicated their parent night game to Matt and our family. It was so beautiful and thoughtful, and such a special way to keep his memory alive. They made a beautiful poster that will be hung in their new team room. They are also dedicating the alumni game in August to Matt. We honestly couldn’t feel more humbly blessed with our community.

In Memory of Matt, I wanted to start a Foundation in his name to help other families throughout Washington County, while spreading awareness of Childhood Cancer and giving back to our community and to the Slinger Soccer team.

Thanks again to the AMAZING community, Middle Ground Connections partnered with me and helped it become a reality. We put it all together in about two months. I really thought it would not happen as I kept tripping over obstacles, but God had other plans as He kept clearing the way and here we are.

We are having our inaugural #TEAMMATT Relay for Childhood Cancer, and we would like for everyone to please join us for a day of fun in Loving Memory of Matt or a loved one.

Where: Slinger Highschool Track, 209 Polk St., Slinger, WI 53086

When: Saturday, June 3, 2023

Time: 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Come and help us pass the #TEAMMATT BATON in Memory of Matt and or a Loved one.

If you are not a runner, no worries you could walk it.

There will be Music, games, raffles, and food and drink available.

I would like to say THANK YOU in advance to our Community, Sponsors, and Everyone who has donated to help make this a reality.  Your love and support will make this special day in Loving Memory of Matt a success!!💙💛🙏🏼

#TEAMMATTFOREVER😇

#GODHOPEFAITH✝️

Thank you Kindly & Blessings,

The Pfund Family