Matt Wilcox

Matt was born and raised in Utah. He met his wife JenniLyn when he was 15 years old, and

they hit it off instantly. From there they became High School sweethearts. About two years after

high school, Matt served a mission in Fresno California for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-

Day Saints while JenniLyn attended school at Dixie. Upon his return, they knew they could not

live their lives without each other and were married 8 months later in the Salt Lake Temple.

Since being married they have lived in St. George, Stansbury Park, Tooele, Albany New York,

and back to Tooele where they currently reside. They have 4 beautiful daughters; Kayla who is

16, Gracie is 14, Paisley is 12, and McKinley is almost 10. They enjoy spending time together

as a family playing games, camping, & watching movies. They also enjoy watching their girls

grow and participate in their various extra-curricular activities. When Matt is not busy with work

or his family you can find him gardening, sitting outside enjoying the peaceful outdoors, visiting

with the neighbors, or giving service to others. Matt and JenniLyn have had their ups and downs

in the 24 years they have know each other (almost 18 years of marriage) but nothing has

compared to the devastating news they received in January.

After getting super sick, having other issues, and having more pain than he ever has had on

New Year’s Eve they knew something was wrong. So, JenniLyn got him an appointment with a

gastroenterologist as quick as she could and after getting him in for a colonoscopy, they

discovered that Matt had colon cancer. At first, they thought they caught it in time and set him

up with a surgeon to get it removed but after sending him to get a CT scan two days later they

got the call that told them it was worse than the doctors realized. Matt was diagnosed with stage

4 colon cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes, his liver, and his peritoneum (abdominal

lining). The following week was probably one of the most difficult times in their lives as they

waited to meet with his oncologist. At the first appointment they were told that because it is in

his peritoneum that his cancer is incurable but treatable, which was hard blow for them to hear.

However, if he could eventually become a candidate for a highly invasive and risky surgery then

that would be the only chance to beat it (but that’s not guaranteed). So, they started his journey

of super aggressive chemo every other week. Over the last 7 months he has had 8 rounds of 3

chemo drugs (4 drugs for 2 of those rounds but it caused blood clots in his lungs so that was

stopped) then after the first 8 rounds he moved to 2 drugs and has been doing that since. All

along the way his CT scans have shown that the tumors in his abdominal lining were shrinking,

and the ones in his liver and colon stayed the same (due to them being mucous type tumors)

which had always been good news. Because he has handled chemo well and his CT scans

have been good, he became a candidate for surgery. So, after meeting with the specialist, they

had more good news. They found out that the part of his lining that the cancer is in, is a layer we

all can live without. They also found out that calcium was discovered in the tumors in his liver

and colon which is a sign that the cancer cells are being killed off. So, with that news they were

told he is a good candidate for surgery but because this type of surgery is pushing the envelope

it must be done in steps. So, starting Sept. 17th their fall/winter will be full of surgeries,

recoveries, maintenance chemo, and more surgery all in the Hope that they get all the cancer,

and it never comes back!

JenniLyn had this to say about him; "Matt is my best friend, my everything and I can’t imagine life

without him. He is an amazing father to our girls and is always serving those around him in any

way that he can. We can’t go anywhere without him leaving his mark through his sarcastic/funny

comments and personality (even when he is feeling at his worst), he is always making people

laugh."