Boy’s heart condition prompts teacher to launch foundation

Matthew Blanchard has a medical condition so rare that his doctors call him their “one and only.”

But the 12-year-old is hoping many join him in friendship and fellowship for the foundation in his name.

The Matthew Blanchard Foundation was set up by his fifth-grade teacher to aid his family and research for his condition, lymphocytic myocarditis.

The condition causes his immune system to consume his heart cells, which makes his heart muscles swell. It is common among transplant recipients, but Matthew doesn’t have a donor organ, said his mother, Sheri Blanchard.

His health issues arose suddenly in June 2009, when Matthew, an active preteen, complained of chest pain.

“We thought, ‘Oh, you’re fine.’ He played football and we thought he tore a muscle,” Blanchard said. “He woke up early on a Monday, went back to his room and I heard him hit the floor.”

Matthew was taken to Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center, 6900 N. Durango Drive, where doctors suggested that he be transferred to Sunrise Children’s Hospital, 3186 S. Maryland Parkway.

While there, heart failure began to set in, and he was on life support for five days. Matthew survived seven heart biopsies and catheterization as doctors sought an answer regarding his mysterious disease.

“The doctors couldn’t tell us much, because they didn’t know what he had,” Blanchard said.

Dr. Bill Evans, pediatric cardiologist with the Sunrise Children’s Heart Center, finally deduced that an infection could have brought on the ailment.

“He makes antibodies that fight against its own tissue,” he said. “It’s extremely rare to survive. We’ve had a few patients in the last 10 years, but none have survived.”

The diagnosis was both a relief and a major crimp in Matthew’s active lifestyle. He had to give up sports and attending school and was put on various medications to keep him stable.

Vacations with his parents and four siblings were altered because episodes with his heart made it dangerous to be far from a hospital.

“Everything he loved and was good at, he can’t do anymore,” Blanchard said.

Matthew’s kind heart was unaffected, his mother said.

“He’s such a good boy, so sweet and caring, and all the kids love him,” she said. “When he woke up (from his coma), every nurse fell in love with him. He would tell me, ‘It’s OK, mama, it’s not that bad.’ ”

Jodi Joyce was Matthew’s fifth-grade science teacher, and she described him as happy-go-lucky and eager to learn.

Joyce is president of the Matthew Blanchard Foundation and started the organization when medical bills started to mount at the Blanchard home.

“I said (to Sheri), ‘I’m not asking you, I’m telling you, I want to start a foundation,’ ” she said. “This disease needs some awareness.”

The foundation plans to arrange community events twice a year to help the family’s cause.

“As a teacher, I adopt all my kids. I adopt them in my classroom and outside my classroom,” Joyce said.

Blanchard said the family is grateful for the foundation and the community’s support of her son.

“They saw a friend in need and were so kind,” she said.

Contact Centennial and Paradise View reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@viewnews.com or 477-3839.