I had an awesome time at Matthew's book signing today! Thank you to all the friends, both from camp and otherwise, who forwarded my e-mail to others and came out to support Matthew.

To buy a copy of Hope and the Dragon, click here.



YOUNG AUTHOR OFFERS HOPE TO OTHER CANCER PATIENTS
Pamela Cowan, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post
Published: Saturday, April 21, 2007

REGINA -- Matthew Epp wants other kids with cancer to stay hopeful and "defeat your dragon."

The 14-year-old boy from Fiske hopes to slay the dragon in his life -- a rare form of kidney cancer he's been fighting since he was two.

And he wants to inspire other kids to conquer their dragons with a story he wrote when he was 11 years old and attending Camp Circle O' Friends -- a camp at Lake Diefenbaker for kids with cancer.

Hope & the Dragon is a story about a boy who is undergoing cancer surgery and dreams of a magical land in which a fire-breathing dragon symbolizes cancer. Suited in armour, the boy uses the weapons of faith, hope and courage to successfully conquer the beast.

"I have Hope, Faith and Courage on my side and Love standing guard at my back. No Dragon in the world is a match for all that!" says the character in Epp's book.

That's Matthew's philosophy.

"I've had a relapse and there's really nothing that they can do so I'm just going on with my day and having a good time," Epp said with a smile during an interview this week.

His battle with cancer began in 1994 when he was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour, a kidney cancer that affects children.

His mom, Nicole Epp, said her small son was "quite a trooper" while he underwent 16 months of chemotherapy, the removal of one of his kidneys and radiation.

In August 1998, Matthew relapsed and cancer emerged behind his right lung.

Again he underwent two years of chemotherapy, two weeks of radiation and surgery to remove the tumour.

When another tumour appeared in 2002, Epp required more chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Throughout the numerous treatments he visualized the chemo as "a whole bunch of superheroes and I thought of the cancer as a monster," Epp said.

He changed the monster to a dragon in his book Hope & the Dragon -- a story his grandmother entered in the 2006 Annual Write Contest. As a result of winning the contest, his book was published by Aaspirations Publishing.

Epp believes it takes a combination of hope, courage, faith and love to fight cancer.

"I've always had love surround me," he said. "If mom wasn't at the hospital, my dad would be at the hospital -- there would always be someone with me."

The young author is to sign books at the Saskatoon McNally Robinson Booksellers today at 1 p.m.

"I hope the book will give kids more hope if they have hope and if they don't it will give them hope and that they will know another one of their peers is going through the same thing," Epp said.

His mother echoes Matthew's hope that the book will help others in similar situations.

"What I picture is a mother being able to read this book to their little one who is diagnosed with cancer or some other illness or going through some sort of dragon issue -- something I never had when Matthew was sick," Nicole said.

Matthew's positive attitude helps his family cope on a day-to-day basis, she said.

"As a family, you wait every day for that phone call that there would be something, someday available, but until then you just watch him and enjoy every moment. You do not take life for granted," she said.

A portion of book sales will go toward cancer research for children.

"We want to give that little bit of hope to a child that needs it and then our job will be done," Nicole said.

(REGINA LEADER-POST)

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007