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Firefighter/EMT Matt Kelsey, 32, works at St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon to help save lives as an Emergency Department Technician.

Matt Kelsey talking to future firefighters at the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department in August 2011.

On December 11, however, Matt found his life was the one being saved when his colleagues suspected he had leukemia and put him in an ambulance bound or chemotherapy at UPMC Shadyside. Pittsburgh area fire departments, EMS organizations, St. Clair nurses and doctors, students, and businesses are now rallying support for Matt in his fight against Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Matt says that during his first round of chemotherapy, “I took about 30 bags of donated blood and platelets to keep me alive while I was not producing my own.”

With more rounds of chemotherapy scheduled into the summer, Matt and his fiancée face mounting living and treatment costs and have spent wedding savings coping with expenses occasioned by his continuing recovery needs.

The Bridgeville and Mt. Lebanon Fire Departments are holding a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for Matt on March 4 from 2 to 7 p.m. in the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Fire Department, and his family has set up a crowd funding page at www.gofundme.com/help-matthew-kelsey-kick-amls-butt.

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