Exploring Life & Business with Matt Bodden of The LucStrong Foundation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Bodden.

Hi Matt, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Me and my wife Stacy have three children (Tarren, Shane, & Luc). Our youngest son, Luc was born with sickle cell disease (SCD). In 2013, at the age of seven he received a bone marrow transplant to cure him. The transplant was a success however he experienced graft vs host disease as a result of the process. His expected two month hospital stay turned into an eleven month hospital stay. During his extended stay, my wife had to leave her job to care for him. We lost 33% of our household income as a result. When we looked for organizations to help we found many non-profits that helped with other diseases but none that helped with SCD. That’s when God placed it on our hearts that if we ever had the chance that we would start one. Our son Luc fought to regain his health for three years after his transplant. However, he subsequently had a stroke and at the age of ten on September 14th, 2016 God called him home to heaven. One year later it was still on our hearts to start a non-profit to help other children like him. Therefore, in 2017 we started The LucStrong Foundation to honor his legacy and help other families with children fighting SCD. We are now partnered with seventeen children’s hospitals across the nation including CHLA, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, Stanford University Children’s Hospital, Yale University Children’s Hospital and many others. We provide grants to help families with their medical bills, food, housing, and other critical needs. We are community based and donor supported. We hold four fundraisers annually including one kickball fundraiser, two pickleball fundraisers, and one gala fundraiser. We miss our son daily however we trust that he is in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that we will see him one day. God uses this to comfort us along with the help that we provide to others through the foundation.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our journey has been extremely challenging. During Luc’s eleven month hospital stay he remained in one room and was only able to see us (his immediate family members). Due to the graft vs host disease complication he experienced the doctors did not expect him to live. When he walked out of the hospital eleven months later the nurses nicknamed him Lazarus because they said it was as if God raised him from the dead. Luc came home on twenty two different medications and couldn’t go outside for practically one year due to the frailty of his immune system. All the while he remained very strong, positive, and fought valiantly to regain his health. During his three year post transplant journey he united our entire Oak Park community with the courage he displayed. His impact was so strong that after he went to heaven the Oak Park City Council declared the day he went to heaven (September 14th) as Luc Bodden Day. It’s been celebrated for the past nine years and continues to be celebrated. We as a family have suffered greatly as we continue to grieve the passing of our precious son and brother. However, our faith in Jesus Christ has kept us and comforted us. In the midst of it all we are thankful that we are blessed with the support of family, friends, our church, and community.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The LucStrong Foundation?
The LucStrong Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit providing grants to families with children (between the ages of 1 and 17) who are diagnosed with sickle cell disease and either undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT), a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT), or hospitalized due to a sickle cell crisis. The goal of the LucStrong Foundation is to help alleviate some of the financial burdens of families who have a child in the transplant process. Many families who enter the bone marrow transplant process find themselves in great emotional and financial strain and as a result are unable to meet some of their basic living expenses. The LucStrong Foundation offers grants to assist eligible families in meeting the financial challenges they are faced with. Established in 2017, The LucStrong Foundation operates out of Ventura County, CA.

The LucStrong Foundation was founded by me and my wife (Matt & Stacy Bodden). Our experience of having a child with SCD in the transplant process and the associated financial challenges it effectuates compelled us to help those in need. The passion to help families in similar situations now drives the us to utilize our networks in the Ventura and Los Angeles County communities to bring about visibility and donations to the organization. The LucStrong Foundation relies on individual donations and other fundraising efforts to support the organization’s endeavors. We’re currently holding our Holiday Giving Campaign. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to help 5 families with children fighting SCD. Please donate at our LucStrong Website below to help us meet our goal!

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I play pickleball four times a week at three different parks in my community. I”m also a believer in Jesus Christ and love to share the gospel.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lucstrong.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucstrong_/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LSF2006/