At CURE Childhood Cancer’s 13th annual Believe Ball on Saturday, Oct. 3, the story of a Dunwoody cancer survivor will come full circle when he receives an award bearing the name of the doctor who saved his life.
Matt Gephardt will receive the Ragab Spirit of Hope award, named after Dr. Abdel Ragab, Emory University’s first pediatric oncologist and founder of CURE Childhood Cancer – and fittingly, the man who treated then 17-month-old Gephardt in 1971 after he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.
“Matt is a true champion for children with cancer,” said Kristin Connor, CEO of CURE. “As a toddler, Matt received groundbreaking treatment by Dr. Ragab in St. Louis (before Ragab moved to Atlanta) … He was given a 10% chance of success, but it has now been more than 50 years since his treatment, and Matt is a true example of resilience. “
Gephardt, in a recent interview with Rough Draft Atlanta, said a fast-growing, volleyball-sized tumor was found to be growing in his prostate and bladder, with almost no hope for recovery.
‘Don’t give up’
The family, devastated by the news, sought a second opinion, and found Ragab, then working as a resident, who told them not to lose hope.
“He said there was a chemotherapy treatment that is pretty new,” Gephardt recalled. “He said, ‘If I can get Matt into this trial, I think it will shrink the tumor enough to operate.'”
Gephardt’s parents said they were aware that the chemotherapy would be so toxic that it might kill the toddler, but “they had very little to no options at this point, so they said, ‘Let’s try it.'”
The radiation reduced the tumor from its original volleyball size to that of a baseball, allowing surgeons to remove it with limited damage to other organs, although Gephardt said his bladder and prostate had to be removed during the procedure.
“I stayed on the chemotherapy after that, which attacked the rest of the cells that were left after the surgery, and it ultimately saved my life,” he said.
How they reconnected
Gephardt and his family stayed in touch with Ragab periodically throughout the years. The physician attended Gephardt’s wedding, but the two fell out of touch through Gephardt’s many moves around the country and Ragab’s relocation to Atlanta. The way they reconnected could be viewed as divine intervention.
Gephardt, now living in Atlanta, said he received a call from Connor in 2017, who said CURE was giving Ragab the first-ever Spirit of Hope award, and that the organization had interviewed the doctor for a video it would be showing at the ceremony.
“They asked him what the one case or patient that he remembers the most, and he told my story,” Gephardt said. “After the interview, they said, ‘We’ve got to go find Matt. He’s probably living in another state, but we need to fly him and his parents in to give Dr. Ragab his award.'”
Gephardt was not hard to locate. He was living about five minutes’ drive from CURE’s Dunwoody headquarters and he and his family were on hand to honor Ragab, who passed away later that year after being diagnosed with cancer.
The call to contribute
After the ceremony, Gephardt said he was moved to do more to support childhood cancer research and called Connor. He served six years on the board, two of them as president, while spending a significant portion of his life dealing with the ramifications of chemotherapy and radiation.
A year ago, Gephardt, who is the co-owner of seven Village Burger restaurants around Atlanta, had a full hip replacement because of the onset of arthritis caused by the treatments. “It was almost like a 90-year-old person’s hip,” he said.
“I’ve been in and out of hospitals a lot during my life, but always felt incredibly grateful, even though it took me away from school and friends and made me stand out a bit, and not in a good way,” he said.
Gephardt said he feels like he has found his true calling after reuniting with Ragab.
“I need to do this. I need to help the organization and raise money so that they can do the work, continue to invest in research, to save children’s lives, and to serve the families who are fighting this terrible disease,” he said.
Since its first event, CURE’s Believe Ball has raised more than $14 million to fund targeted research to find a cure for pediatric cancer and provide crisis-oriented services to families, according to the release. Sponsorships and information are available here.
For more information, visit www.curechildhoodcancer.org.
