PHOENIX – A valley community has gathered to welcome home a Phoenix police officer dealing with a serious health problem.
Matt Litman, 28, had been in rehab for more than two months. Otherwise healthy, his wife Stephanie said he noticed back pain in January.
Litman said her husband started seeing doctors to find out what was going on when one night he suddenly couldn’t walk. She said Matt was ultimately diagnosed with a rare cancerous tumor known as grade IV astrocytoma in his spinal cord.
“He’s still fighting,” said Stephanie Litman.
Litman told ABC15 in about a month that they would know how the tumor was responding to treatment. Matt is working on hopefully going back someday.
In the meantime, Matt can go home and is returning to his neighborhood in the northern valley on Friday when neighbors and supporters lined the street with flags and signs.
“He was really overwhelmed, but in a good way,” said Litman. “He was really emotional because he had no idea any of this was going to happen. I also think that it marvelously overwhelmed the amount of people that showed up.”
Litman said her two young children were especially happy that their father was home.
“Our one year old is a typical baby so he just screamed, ‘dada, dada!” Litman said. “That was cute and he hugged him tight.”
Litman told ABC15 that community support means a lot.
“It was just amazing,” she said. “It was really nice to see everyone there to support him and excited to see him come home.”
Matt’s journey is recorded on Facebook.
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