When Matthew Kennedy and his family heard his diagnosis, they were sure they’d misunderstood. A healthy 48-year-old firefighter/EMT has stage-four cancer? Throughout Kennedy’s 15-year career with the Vancouver Fire Department, he’s helped countless people who were suffering from a variety of ailments and often saw them on their worst days. But when he was the one diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, it was a hard truth to accept. He had prostate cancer, doctors said. They told him he had between five and 10 years to live. Kennedy and his family worked through a variety of emotions about his prognosis. They sought a family therapist.

But one thing the emergency medical technician quickly knew was that he would fight back against the cancer. Not just for himself, but to set an example for his two teenage boys — and for his community. He set a goal to return to work by the end of 2022, knowing how difficult it would be to get his body strong again. He called it Operation RIPS: Return In Proper Shape, his wife, Ashlee Kennedy, said. On Dec. 12 that goal became a reality when he found out he was cleared to once again don his uniform. Unexpected sickness After four years in the military, Kennedy worked as an operating room nurse. His friends convinced him to look into becoming a first responder. He knew it would mean a pay cut, he said, but it was a job he’d dreamed of doing. Once he’d joined the Vancouver Fire Department, Ashlee Kennedy said her husband’s crew leaned on him for his knowledge of patient care.

But in September 2021, he started suffering from back pain. He couldn’t recall injuring himself but had no indications anything else was wrong. He went to a chiropractor and sought a variety of treatments for his back, he said. Eventually, he had his blood tested and underwent an MRI. The results were entirely unexpected. It was prostate cancer, his doctors informed him, which had spread throughout his bones — in particular, his back. “He’s so young and healthy. We felt really blindsided, as one might, just having zero thought that he could have metastatic cancer, and that’s why he has so much bone pain,” Ashlee Kennedy said. “The average prostate cancer patient is like an 80-year-old man, so they don’t look like Matt. And they’re not somebody who has a career, let alone a physical one. And we just felt very alone, because it’s just not typical.” Treatment journey The Kennedys traveled to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center in Houston. They planned to be there for three to five days, they said, but their stay stretched into two weeks. His doctors there assessed his eligibility for a clinical trial, and the news of his acceptance was a dose of relief amid the sadness.

“It was just a miracle. It was like Christmas morning,” Ashlee Kennedy said. “I was pretty gorked, coming out of anesthesia, when (the doctor) told me that,” Matt Kennedy said. “I felt relief, but there’s still a long road to go.” The treatment was hard on his body, in particular during the first six months, he said. And even, still, there is no cure for his cancer. The aim of the trial medication is to allow Kennedy to live with his disease. His biggest motivator has been his kids, he said, and “showing them that if you get dealt a bad hand or you’re flat on the mat, get back up and fight.” Ashlee Kennedy said a prognosis like her husband’s gave her family a different perspective on the time they spend together. “Yes, Matt’s cancer is totally physical, but what I would say, and the thing that I’m sure people with chronic conditions know, is that you don’t realize the collateral damage,” Ashlee Kennedy said. “There’s so much collateral damage that comes from having a diagnosis. And those are the things that happen within your relationships — your family, your household, how you feel about your romantic relationship with your partner who has cancer, it could be a million different things.”

Moving forward As much as Kennedy’s diagnosis changed his family’s lives, his wife said they aim not to let it consume them. “I think we’ve definitely learned to appreciate this notion of taking care of our mental health and the integral part a mental health therapist plays in helping us navigate this, because any type of a diagnosis like this is a trauma,” Ashlee Kennedy said. “And the trick is, what can you do to regain some positivity? What can you do to get your husband back to work that he loves and back to some level of normalcy? How can you not have, in your household, the topic of conversation is always cancer? That’s been the trick, because if you allow it to, cancer could take over every little nook and cranny of every part of your life.” “Matthew is not stage four prostate cancer. He is not his circumstance,” Ashlee Kennedy said. “It’s a part of him, but that doesn’t all of the sudden define him. He is a great many number of things besides that, and I think that that’s a really good message.” Besides, Kennedy has no plans to live only 10 years. He said he’s continuing to make plans for the future. Ashlee Kennedy became emotional as she recalled the support her family has received from members of the Vancouver Fire Department and the community in general.

Kennedy said this experience has also added to his perspective while on the job. “Now, I can empathize on a different level, because now I have been a patient, and I can kind of know the likes or dislikes, the goes or no-goes for people that have chronic illnesses,” he said. He called it a privilege to serve his city as a firefighter/EMT. “It’s the best job in the world,” Kennedy said. “You get that instant gratification because you’re serving the community, and, at the end of the day, when you go home, you’ve made a difference.”