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Matt is in his early 30s and has been a patient at St. Vincent's. About two years ago he had testicular cancer. He now says cancer saved his life because a follow-up PET scan discovered a benign, unrelated but deadly heart tumour. He is now in remission and has decided to do what he does best - share music.
Matt is a professional DJ - a cool dude who is determined to do good. He is raising money for St. Vincent's to buy 30 ipods so patients having time-consuming and sometimes distressing chemotherapy can lie back and chill out to Matt's individually tailored music selections.
With a huge music collection, Matt has something for everyone, he thinks. For example, if a patient likes country and western, Matt will compile a collection. Meditation music, metal...whatever. He's calling his idea "musical freedom", recognizing the way he was able to zone-out during treatment that made him feel really sick.
The ipods will remain at the bedside and be available to patients coming through each day. Matt is also fundraising to buy large, comfortable, high quality headphones and an Apple Mac to store all the music at the hospital.
He is holding a "Thank God it's Over" party on Dec 20, celebrating the fact that he's finished his treatment. He's also holding a New Year's Eve event when the turn tables will be busy as he continues his quest to raise
$30000 to fully fund the project.
Working with Matt is Pam Crouch, head of our Cancer Services Project
Team. Pam is interested in developing music therapy in cancer care at the hospital and is planning to research the impact of Matt's generosity
If you would like to support this project, please contact Trish Roath at the St. Vincent’s Foundation on (03) 9288 3365 or by email to
Trish.roath@svhm.org.au
Click
here to donate to iPods4Patients
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