NJ Community Rallying Around Father With Cancer Who's Seeking Special Treatment In Germany
BERNARDSVILLE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey community is rallying around a father who has cancer.
They're raising money so he can try to get life-saving treatment overseas.
Matt and Jodi Coleman, along with their 11-year-old twins, Sam and Aiden, don't take family time for granted.
Last year, Matt Coleman had a seizure at work. During emergency surgery, doctors removed a golf-ball-sized mass from his brain.
"Matt has a stage three, which is an aggressive brain cancer," Jodi Coleman told CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
Matt, who was once a triathlete, had to endure radiation and chemo while learning how to walk and talk again. Now every three months, Matt agonizes as he waits for the results of each new scan.
"You find out who loves you when you're down," he said.
Sam Coleman's sixth-grade football team at Bernardsville Middle School is selling candy, raising money to help his dad.
"You can't imagine how bad it must feel, so we're really trying to help him with that," another child said.
"We've learned to be grateful for what you have and what you don't have," another child said.
From the school pick-up line to the community, the kids say people are being "very generous."
"People are being very generous and giving a lot of money," one boy said.
In just days, the football team alone has collected more than $1,000.
The money from the fundraiser and others will help the Matt seek immunotherapy treatment in Germany that's not currently available in the United States.
"It's just all about life extending. Whatever we can do," Matt Coleman said. "We don't want to sit here and wait for the cancer to come back."
The treatment is not a cure. Doctors told Matt that when the cancer returns, it will be more aggressive.
"It's just been an amazing journey ... Just seeing the world around us just root for us and come together," Jodi Coleman said.
For the Coleman family, the support is more than they could've ever asked for.
Thanks to help from the community, the family is close to their $100,000 goal.
If you would like to help, they have a GoFundMe set up at gofundme.com/f/help-matt-fight-deadly-brain-cancer.
