Cabrillo College Student Awaits Heart Donor

Four years ago Joe Matthews, then 15, spent three weeks in Santa Cruz on a vacation with his family at the home of close family friends, the Caborns. Joe was so completely enamored with the area, and the whole California experience, that he resolved to return to Santa Cruz as soon as he possibly could. It became his dream.

He spent the next three years studying hard, working side jobs, and saving up for his stay. He graduated high school a year early, obtained a student visa, and enrolled at Cabrillo College to earn a degree in Digital Media.

On February 6 2005 Joe came to live with his “California Family”. While moving in on that first day, Joe set up his computer screen-saver to auto-loop the words ”living the dream!” And that summed up his attitude to life.

People all over the county found his energy and zest for life absolutely irresistible. “English Joe” was the consummate elite athlete. He was the much-loved full-back for the Aptos Beach Dogs rugby team and it took him no time to become an extremely accomplished surfer and snowboarder. He received outstanding grades at Cabrillo, and his infectious charm made him friends wherever he went.

English Joe was – as he always put it – loving life

But then on Feb 22 2006 his life took a staggering change of direction

That morning he visited a doctor at his college campus and complained of having experienced extreme fatigue and shortness of breath during and after a rugby match on the previous Saturday. After a chest x-ray he was immediately sent to the emergency Room at Dominican Hospital.

It was there that Joe first learnt that he was suffering from severe cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that in rare cases affects young athletes. In layman’s terms Joe’s heart was extremely ‘enlarged’ and was functioning at only a fraction of normal efficiency.

He was stabilized at Dominican Hospital and then transferred to Stanford hospital where he was placed in the hands of a team of highly specialized cardiologists. After a full work up they determined that it was essential to for him to be fitted with a defibrillator. Tragically, during the procedure it became apparent that his heart had already deteriorated too much, and he suffered complete cardiac arrest in the operating room. The remarkable team at Stanford managed to revive him and he underwent a five hour open heart surgery to install a left ventricle assist device to substitute for his failed heart. For the next several hours Joe lay in intensive care fighting for his life while his family tried to come to terms with the fact that he would be in need of a heart transplant. Joe spent a total of 10 days in the ICU gradually being taken off various forms of life and body function support.

Click here for the most up-to-date medical information.

A huge community from both Santa Cruz County and his home town of Lowestoft, England have come together to offer help and support for Joe and his family. A huge fundraising effort has been mobilized on both sides of the Atlantic to help the Matthews family deal with the huge financial challenge that will inevitably be facing them. Details will be posted on the update bulletin board on this site. Needless to say, any monetary donation that you might be willing to make at this time would be enormously appreciated.
Donate online today.

Joe and his whole family are absolutely overwhelmed with your kindness and generosity. They cannot thank you enough.