Matt Small, improving, says first word since falling critically ill in Ireland, 'Hello'
A Levittown man who fell critically ill with sepsis in Ireland and was given hours to live on New Year’s Day was able to call his mother Friday and speak his first word in nearly three weeks, “Hello.”
Matt Small, 21, is conscious and improving, said his mother, Sandra, in a call from where’s she’s staying with family in County Mayo.
“He still has a trach, but he’s off dialysis,” she said.
Even better, heart damage is healing. Doctors in Dublin at first thought the Matt might need a transplant to survive.
“It’s the best news we’ve gotten yet,” she said.
The Smalls, with Sandra, her husband, Greg, Matt and younger son, Mark, traveled to Ireland for a week-long Christmas family reunion. Sandra and Greg came down with a flu and quickly recovered. But Matt’s flu quickly turned life threatening. Early on, he was in major organ failure. He has been heavily sedated and unable to communicate for most of time since.
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But on Thursday, with his vitals improving, his sedation was dialed back, and he was able to come-to and communicate non-verbally.
“He was very frustrated that he couldn’t talk to us, so they got him a white board and a black pen and they asked him his name. He wrote, ‘Small,’” she said.
“He doesn’t have the strength to write a sentence, so he was writing one letter on top of another, so it was literally a big black blur on the board. But he knows his name,” she said.
County Mayo is three- and half-hour drive to the Dublin hospital, and the family takes turns traveling there. On Friday, Sandra’s sister, Kathy, went to the hospital.
“She said, ‘When I get there, I’ll FaceTime you,’” Sandra said.
She was running an errand and was in a store when her phone rang.
“And when I answered,” she said, “it was Matt on the other side, and he goes, ‘Hello!’ And I said, ‘You’re talking!’”
She cried.
“The ladies in the shop were looking at me and were like, ‘Are you OK?’
“He’s still unable to have a full-scale conversation with you, but he’s able to say one and two syllable words,” she said. “So I asked, ‘Are you in pain?” He said, ‘No.’ I said have you eaten yet? He said, ‘They’re giving me ice chips.’”
There's a long road to recovery for Matthew, who is an Eagle Scout and 2020 graduate of the Bucks County Technical High School in Fairless Hills. He took graphic design, a line of work in which he’s employed. He works out at Crunch Fitness in Langhorne and lives a healthy lifestyle. But the illness has taken a toll on his nearly six-foot tall, 200-pound frame. He’s lost a lot of muscle weight.
“He’s very drawn in his face. And his neck, where they have the I-V's is very red and inflamed, and his lips from when he was on the intubation tube are all cracked and swollen but that will all heal in good time,” his mother said.
“The doctors said his age and fitness are what’s saving his life,” said his mother.
He will require physical therapy to gain strength and re-learn to walk, and to swallow liquids and eat solid foods. His lungs remain dodgy, filled with gunk from the illness.
“The nurse said they aren’t worse, but they aren’t better, either,” Sandra said, adding that there’s a constant threat of reinfection and setback.
“But we’re hoping for the best,” she said.
A GoFundMe to defray the unexpected costs to staying in Ireland for as much as another six months was started by one of the Smalls Levittown neighbors. As word spread through media and social media this week, the fund doubled to $30,000. They estimate they will need $50,000 for the six-month stay.
When she got the call from Matt on Friday, her husband, Greg, and younger son, Mark, were waiting in the car outside the store. She went out to them with the phone, and showed them Matt, live onscreen. It was a joyful moment.
“You know, I think Greg wanted to cry, but didn’t. He’s a stoic that way,” she said.
JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Levittown man who fell critically ill on family trip to Ireland is improving
