Matt’s dad Michael Rheintgen said the fund will be used to make life better for children and families battling leukemia. “I was at the hospital when the doctor and I had to tell him that there was nothing more they could do and that he was going to die,” Rheintgen recalled in an email. “I don’t know how he did it, but he quickly dealt with the reality and found peace.

“Words cannot say how much we will always miss him.”

The fund will use the money it raises to donate toys and video games to hospital pediatric wards and provide financial support such as gas cards to parents whose children suffer from the disease. He is in the process of developing a mission statement for the fund and filing as a charity.

Donations to the Matthew Rheintgen Memorial Fund are being accepted locally by the Chase Bank.

They stand as an eloquent remembrance of a brave young man, Matt Rheintgen, who lost his fight with acute myelogenous leukemia 10 days ago at  age 14.

Matt, the son of Michael and Kathy Rheintgen was diagnosed with the fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow in September 2008. He endured five rounds of chemotherapy and earlier this summer had sought a donor for a bone marrow transplant– a quest aided by students and teachers at Herrick Middle School, where Matt was a graduating eighth grader.

I didn’t know Matt personally, but my daughter was a school mate of his. She remembers that he lit up every room he entered, that he “always had this glow when he walked down the hallways.”

Our town is never smaller than when neighbors come together to offer their love and support, whether in a heartfelt condolence message, a hot meal or a hundred trees bedecked with white ribbons.

May they comfort Matt’s family and friends.