User:Lilmatt4/sandbox



= Matt Schneider = Matthew James Schneider (born June 30, 1976) is a 4-time kidney transplant recipient and transplant and organ donor awareness advocate. In 2019 Matt traveled 1,515 miles on a mobility scooter to register people to be organ donors.

Biography
Matt Schneider was born in Dallas, TX. He then moved from Providence RI, Stone Mountain, GA and Coral Springs, FL before he was 4-years-old. He lived in Coral Springs during his adolescent years. He moved to unincorporated North Fulton now Johns Creek, GA in 1991 where he attended Chattahoochee High School. He then graduated from Berry College in 2002 with a BS in Broadcasting with a minor in Design.

Medical Issues
Matt was born with Eagle-Barrett Syndrome, better known as prune belly syndrome. Due to this disease he had minimal kidney function, bilateral hip dysplasia, scoliosis and lordosis. Due to his hip dysplasia, his left knee cap would randomly dislocate about 10 times until he had knee surgery to correct it in 2013.

Due to his medical issues, Matt has undergone at least 25 surgeries including 4 kidney transplants, sinus, abdominal and orthopedic surgeries and fistula and graft surgeries for dialysis.

Dialysis and Kidney Transplants
In 1986 Matt’s kidneys completely started to fail after having around 20% function for the first 10 years of his life. In early 1987, his native kidneys were removed and a fistula was put in his right wrist. He was on hemodialysis for six months while his parents got tested to give him a kidney to save his life.

First his father got tested, but after Matt got a blood transfusion, his father was no longer a good match. After months of waiting, Matt got his first kidney transplant at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL when his mom donated her kidney on August 26, 1987. Matt was only 11-years-old. His surgeon was Dr. Joshua Miller.

After 7 years of good kidney function, his mother’s kidney began to fail. His father got tested again and was again a match. On October 6, 1994, Matt received his second kidney transplant thanks to his father’s donation. This transplant was performed by Dr. John Welchel, Jr. at Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Matt was a senior in high school during this transplant.

Only 4 years after his second transplant, and while attending Berry College, Matt’s second kidney failed. In January of 1999, Matt started dialysis again. His younger brother, Kevin, began getting tested to donate a kidney after Matt started dialysis. Kevin was a perfect match and gave Matt his kidney later that year. On October 7, 1999, exactly 5 years and one day after his second transplant, Matt received his 3rd kidney from his brother at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, GA. Drs. Thomas Peason and Christian Larson were the transplant surgeons.

Kevin’s kidney lasted 15 years and in January of 2015, Matt had to go on dialysis again. There wasn’t anyone available to donate immediately, so Matt made a website to find a new kidney donor. A few friends and family got tested, but none were matches. Fortunately, a donor was found only 13 months later. It was thought that he would have to wait years for a new kidney from a deceased donor.

On February 23, 2016, Matt received a call that a kidney had been found. At 2 PM on the 24th, Matt went back to get his 4th kidney transplant. His donor was a deceased donor from California that Matt refers to as his angel. His 4th transplant was done at Piedmont Hospital by Dr. Matthew Mulloy. He still goes to Piedmont Hospital for checkups.

Volunteer Work
Matt started volunteering at a young age because so much had been given to him. When he moved to Georgia in 1991, he ended up at Egleston Children’s Hospital only one month after arriving due to an illness. At Egleston he heard about a camp for children with kidney disease. Later that year, Matt would be a camper at Camp Independence and it would change his life.

Camp Independence is a weeklong summer camp for kids ages 8 to 18. Founded in 1976 by the National Kidney Foundation, Camp Independence is a place where our patients can get outside, play, learn and make friends with kids who understand what it's like to live with kidney disease or an organ transplant.

Matt was a camper at Camp Independence from 1991 to 1994. He began volunteering as a counselor in 1995 and was a counselor until 1998. In 1999 he began volunteering as an activities coordinator. He moved up to head counselor in 2010 and ended his run in 2018 when COVID canceled camp in 2019. He also volunteered at Second Chance Family Camp, for families of transplant children, from 1995 to 2018, Camp Braveheart , for children with congenital heart conditions, from 2002 to 2018, Transplant Teen Camp from 2013 to 2018. All of the mentioned camps are held at Camp Twin Lakes, in Rutledge, GA. Matt also volunteered at Camp Wiwanwi, a camp in Flat Rock, North Carolina for children with kidney disease, from 2002-2010.

US Transplant Games and Transplant Games of America
When Matt was at his 1st hospital visit in Atlanta in 1991, he also learned about the US Transplant Games. The Transplant Games were run by the National Kidney Foundation from 1990 to 2010. The Transplant Games of America then took over in 2012 through today.

Every two years the Transplant Games of America gathers together thousands of transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, individuals on the waiting list, caregivers, transplant professionals, supporters and spectators for the world’s largest celebration of life. During this truly unique and inspiring week, 40 state teams and several international teams (i.e. Brazil, Australia, India), made up of transplant recipients and living donors, compete in twenty athletic and recreational competitions. In addition to these medaling events, there are over sixty special events held throughout the Games meant for all attendees to enjoy. These events not only serve as an opportunity for donor families, recipients, living donors and professionals to engage with one another and share stories, but it celebrates donors who gave the selfless gift of life. At the Transplant Games, recipients are given the chance to show the world that having a transplant is a second chance at a full, productive, and inspiring life as well as display to their donor families what their gift means to them. List of Games Matt attended, sports participated in and medals (if won):

1992 - Los Angeles, CA - Bowling and Tennis (silver medal)

1994 - Atlanta, GA - Bowling, Doubles Tennis and Table Tennis (bronze medal)

1996 - Salt Lake City, UT - Bowling, Table Tennis and Badminton

1998 - Columbus, OH - Bowling, Table Tennis and Badminton (silver medal)

2000 - Orlando, FL - missed games

2002 - Orlando, FL - Bowling, Table Tennis and Badminton (bronze medal)

2004 - Minneapolis, MN - Mixed Doubles Bowling, Table Tennis and Badminton

2006 - Louisville, KY - missed games

2008 - Pittsburg, PA - Bowling, Table Tennis and Badminton (4th place)

2010 - Madison, WI - missed games

2011 - World Transplant Games in Gothenburg, Sweden - Table Tennis, Badminton

2012 - Grand Rapids, MI - missed games

2014 - Houston, TX - Badminton, Doubles Bowling, Team Trivia (4th place)

1996 Olympic Games
Matt was also able to volunteer at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. He volunteered in the international radio hub and the High Museum of Arts. He narrowly missed out on being close to the bombing site, as he checked out early due to not feeling well that day.

Scooting4Donors
In 2016 Matt had just turned 40 and realized that he had lost a lot of friends due to illnesses and felt like he needed to do more since he was still alive. He felt like he had a bigger purpose than what he had been doing for the transplant community. He started planning a huge project.

After years of planning, Matt began Scooting4Donors. Originally he had planned on going from Miami, FL to San Fransisco, CA for over 5 months to register as many donors as he could for the 100,000+ people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants. He got the idea for Scooting4Donors from the Terry Fox Story, a movie he watched as a child. He had also recently watched Roll with Me in 2017 that gave him the idea of a mobility scooter. In Roll with Me, Gabriel Cordell traveled across the US in a manual wheelchair.

On April 1, 2019, Matt left Miami Beach on his Trikaroo mobility scooter and began what he thought was his cross country adventure. He scooted through Miami, where he received his first transplant, Coral Springs, FL, where he grew up, West Palm Beach, where he passed then President Trump’s home, Mar-a-Lago, Tampa, FL, Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA, Augusta, GA , Atlanta, Rome, GA, where he went to Berry College, Chattanooga, TN and finally stopped in Nashville, TN.

Unfortunately, Matt ran out of funds and his friend who was following behind him had to quit. At the end of 2019, COVID became scarier and Matt had to shut down Scooting4Donors indefinitely. After scooting 1,515 miles through three states he had registered 10 new donors to the national donor registry and past hundreds of people who could have seen the signs on his scooter. He was also interviewed by 5 TV stations.

Personal Life
Matt lives with his Cavalier King Charles, Cheddar, in Johns Creek, GA. He is working on his memoir, A Little Give and Take.

He plans on doing Scotting4Donors 2.0 in 2025 going from Key West, FL to Fort Kent, ME exclusively on US Route 1. 2025 is the 100 year anniversary of the numbered road system in the US.