Hospital pictures made by Matt's friends
Matt was in the hospital, in Trauma ICU, from the night of the crash December 21, 2006 until he passed away at 12:33 AM on December 29th. He was in a coma on life support the entire time. However, none of Matt's friends ever gave up on him. This was Matt. Matt could do anything. He would make it. And when he did wake up they didn't want him to see those stark white hospital room walls. When he finally opened his eyes they wanted him to see how very much he was loved, how much he is loved, they wanted to put a smile on his face. Since Trauma ICU had such limited visiting hours some of Matthew's friends that would visit often, and also his girlfriend who was always there, would sit on the waiting room floor and make pictures of things that Matt loved and then hung them on his wall. Matt never woke up but I have no doubt that he saw each and every one of the pictures hanging on the wall and I know he loved them and it did bring a smile to his face even though we didn't get a chance to see that smile. These are the pictures made with so much love by Matthew's friends:
Created by Matt's longtime girlfriend, Lucy Paine
Created by Tarah Marsden-Bruno, a very special friend of Matt's
Created by Nyssa Silbiger, Matt's marine biology and scuba friend from Florida State University. Nyssa was at the hospital every single day.
Created by Kaitlyn Evans, a friend of Matt's since high school
Another picture by Lucy. No one knew how much Matt loved the ocean more than Lucy knew. 
Created by Tucker McFall, Matt's good friend and lacrosse teammate from high school.
Created by Kim Turner. Kim has known Matthew since he was just a little boy. Apparently, the story behind this picture is that Matt emailed Kim, as they did occasionally, and was explaining to her the reproduction of coral -- in biological terms. ?? Not being a marine biologist Kim had him explain in layman's terms. 
Kim was at the hospital with me the whole time except for Christmas day when she went home to be with her two small children.
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Another picture created by Lucy
Created by Logan Huff, a friend from SCUBA at FSU. 
The Divers Flag, created by Nyssa 
And another picture made by Lucy. This is Australia, where Matt would have gone. 
Created by Ellen Schwark, Lucy's Mom. She did a great job making a picture of Matt doing one of the two things he loved best - diving. (the other being surfing) Ellen drove me three hours to the hospital the night I got "the phone call" and was there the entire time. 
Another picture by Tarah 
Sunset at the beach by Kaitlyn
This is the dog that the guys at Matt house at college had for one semester -- although no pets were allowed! Matt called the dog, "Baxter" because he said that name fit him better. Matt had a habit of renaming pets to what he thought their name should be. Our cats all pretty much have had two names. 
By Nyssa -- giving the scientific name for all of the marine life. 
Another picture of Australia by Lucy. She later added the word "Kangaroo" because we all thought it was a squirrel and didn't understand what it had to do with Australia! 
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...and another Lucy picture. A lizard because they are common in Florida I guess. The caterpillar because it is cute? 
Created by Nyssa. This says "Matt's future wife" and "Matt's future kid". Matthew always said he was going to marry a mermaid and have a sea lion for a child. Although we all always knew he was going to marry Lucy. And Lucy was okay with their child being a sea lion. 
By Lucy. "Foo Pie" This was her nickname for Matt. 
Last by not at all least --- by Lucy --- she was with Matt whenever the nurses would allow it. Sitting by his side. Holding his hand. Talking to him. Loving him.
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