A New York father-to-be thought the tiredness he was experiencing could be explained away by all the activity that comes from preparing for a new baby, but his fatigue turned out to be a symptom of something much more serious.
Matthew and Graziella ‘Gracie’ Robertson first found out in September they were expecting their first child. Gracie told PEOPLE magazine that they couldn’t have been happier. It was the culmination of a love story that had begun on a dating app in 2018, after Matthew had moved from Nebraska to Long Island for a job. The couple bought a home together in 2020 and were married on Sept. 5, 2021.
Read MorePuzzling Blood Work
In May, soon after the symptoms began, Matthew went for a physical. His blood work came back with elevated liver enzymes and white blood cell count. Still, the couple and Matthew’s doctor "didn’t think too much into it," said Gracie. "His doctor said, ‘It’s probably nothing, but let’s get the blood work redrawn.’"Despite those news tests showing even higher liver enzyme and white blood cells counts, the doctor remained relatively unconcerned.
"He said, ‘If you start having a fever or if you start feeling sick, go to the emergency room,’" said Gracie.
Within days, Matthew was having night sweats and the fatigue worsened until one morning he decided to go to the ER.
A CAT scan and abdominal ultrasound turned up lesions on his liver, spleen and back. He was referred to a pancreatic cancer specialist, who recommended a liver biopsy.
Matthew grew weaker as the couple awaited the results.
"He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat and he felt super bloated," said Gracie. "He couldn’t do anything."
His condition continued to grow worse, leading to another ER visit on May 31. Matthew was rushed to the intensive care unit, suffering from acute renal failure.
"They put him on a round of hemodialysis, which is just three or four hours of just heavy duty dialysis," said Gracie. "Then they switched him to CRT dialysis, which is a continuous and slower method."
A Family That Wouldn’t Stop Hoping
Still, no diagnosis could be made until the liver biopsy results came in. In the meantime, Matthew was intubated, though Gracie said even then, she didn’t give up hope.
“The doctors were taking every extreme life saving measure they could they even shocked him four times because of his blood pressure dropping but they said his liver had become more tumor than liver,” she said. “His body was just being beaten up.”
A Shocking Diagnosis
Once the results came in, so did the diagnosis: epithelioid angiosarcoma, a form of cancer that develops in deep tissue.
“Sarcoma means fleshy growth, and angio means blood vessels,” said Dr. Charles A. Forscher, MD, medical director of Cedars Sinai Los Angeles’ Sarcoma Program. “So an angiosarcoma is a malignant tumor, or cancer, that’s trying to be a blood vessel, but it’s malignant, so it’s not doing it right.”
Forscher, who did not treat Matthew, said the disease is very rare.
“Sarcomas make up one percent of tumors in people,” he said. “There are about 15,000 soft tissue sarcomas a year in the United States, and angiosarcomas are maybe around two or three percent of that.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, angiosarcoma only affects roughly one person out of every million. It’s described as a “fast-growing cancer,” which requires immediate treatment. That treatment can include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
"These tumors can be highly aggressive. The ones that are in the organs tend to not do well."
Doctors soon recommended that Matthew be removed from life support. With such little hope of improvement, Gracie agreed.
Matthew passed away on June 6.
“I was in bed laying with him as he took his last breath,” said Gracie. “I said, ‘Thank you so much for fighting so hard. All the doctors are so impressed with you. You put up a hell of a fight. You can relax now.’ I hope that comforted him.”
Honoring Her Husband’s Memory
As Gracie prepares to give birth, the joyous event will be tinged by the sadness of losing her husband. She said she plans to give the baby the initials MJR, the same as her husband.
“I feel sad that she won’t get to have her dad the way that she deserves,” she said. “I’m sad that he doesn’t get to be the girl dad that he was so excited about being. I know she’ll bring so much joy and happiness into our family during this time of heartache, but it’s bittersweet because he should be here.”
A GoFundMe has been set up by Gracie’s family to help her and the baby. So far, more than $135,000 has been raised. But Gracie said she hopes that Matthew’s story will help raise awareness of epithilioid angiosarcoma by encouraging people to go for their annual checkups.
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