Friends Seek Community's Help For Toms River Teen's Family

Chances are, if you have been to a Toms River North football game, you have seen Matthew DeRiggi.

The Toms River teenager, an avid sports fan, gets a front-row seat at the Mariners’ games -- in his wheelchair on the track surrounding the field, not far from the action or from his friends on the football team.

DeRiggi has made friends on another football team as well -- the one at Rutgers University, where he has become close to the coaches, players, alumni and athletic department, who have embraced the DeRiggi family as their own. His bond with the players is so tight that a number of them have stayed in touch with the 17-year-old and his family, even as they have moved on to the NFL.

He is so close to both the Toms River North team and the Scarlet Knights that both have run touchdown plays for him, so he can be a part of the action -- something he has been unable to do because he is fighting a battle against Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a battle he is destined to lose.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy progressively breaks down the muscles. Eventually, the disease weakens the heart and lungs. The life expectancy of the genetic disorder, which targets primarily boys, is the mid-20s.

Matt DeRiggi was diagnosed when he was 6 years old. And through everything -- including a broken hip in 2010 that forced him to use a wheelchair, to surgery last month to correct severe curvature of his spine, caused by the disease, that was compressing his organs and causing problems with his heart and lungs -- the personable young man has maintained an outgoing, caring spirit.

“During Hurricane Sandy, he insisted his mom make hot chocolate and bring him to distribute it to emergency personnel,“ said family friend Chris Falkiewicz. “Also, although it is very difficult for him to write, in 2014, he and his family continued their tradition of writing out and sending Christmas cards to our troops overseas.”

The costs of caring for Matt have mounted: a specialized van with a chair lift, a wheelchair ramp for their house, expansion of the first-floor bathroom to make it wheelchair accessible, medical treatments at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and travel/living expenses during those visits. Additionally, in the wake of his most recent surgery, the family has realized it needs to have DeRiggi’s room on the first floor, which will require an addition to the house.

Many of these items are not covered by insurance or only partially covered, Falkiewicz said.

It’s for this reason, Falkiewicz said, that friends are organizing fundraising campaigns to help the DeRiggi family, including a GoFundMe campaign labeled the Keep The Spirit campaign. The campaign, for which Falkiewicz set a goal of $35,000, has raised nearly $11,000 since he started it six days ago.

There are other fundraisers in the works as well, he said.

“When you see the struggles Matt has on a daily basis with eating, maneuvering a computer mouse to play a game or everyday tasks, you realize what a selfless, caring individual he is” for pushing himself to find the strength to write to the troops or assist first responders, Falkiewicz said.

To assist the family, check out the GoFundMe account, which you can find here.

Watch this video, of DeRiggi with friends at a Toms River North football game, to get a sense of how much he touches other people’s lives.