KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
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For 10-year-old Matteo Rodriguez, soccer was a lifeline during cancer treatment. Now, it's just a game he loves to play.
"It was a lot of mixed feelings, because I was sad that I was in the hospital, but I was happy that I was watching [Lionel] Messi play,” Matteo said. “I just loved soccer at that time.”
Four years ago, Matteo, who lives in Olathe with his family, was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His mother, Jennifer Diaz, said doctors repeatedly missed the signs.
"He had been fighting a croupy cough for several months, and every time we would take him into the doctor, they would misdiagnose him," Diaz said.
Doctors at Children's Mercy Hospital eventually discovered a tumor that covered more than half of his chest, a devastating diagnosis.
"When the doctor came in and they told a nurse that I needed to step outside, I knew it was something bad," Diaz said. "... I still feel the gut punch when I think about it, you know. They said, 'There's no easy way to tell you this, your son has cancer.' And, of course, that’s the last thing you want to hear as a parent.”
The diagnosis upended life for the entire family.
"It's very scary that I couldn't, when I went to the hospital once a week, I couldn't touch him, I couldn't even talk to him, I had to stay outside the room,” said Emilianno, Matteo’s younger brother. “The worst part was that I was home with my grandma and without my parents at all.”
Pablo Rodriguez, Matteo's father, said it was hard to shut out the fear in those early moments.
"When you hear the word cancer, you just start thinking the worst," Pablo said. "... The biggest fear is you just don't know what's gonna happen.”
Matteo’s treatment was complicated by the fact that he’d been treated in the prior months with several courses of antibiotics and steroids, which threatened to reduce the effectiveness of the cancer treatment.
But Matteo responded well. Diaz said the tumor shrank by 93% in the first week of treatment.
Matteo has since recovered, allowing soccer to change from an escape to a joyous game again.
We first caught up with Matteo earlier this month when his family got to meet Messi and Argentina's national team at a training session at Sporting Kansas City’s Compass Minerals National Performance Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
Emilianno summed up the experience simply: “It was amazing to see the world's greatest soccer player and the world's, I think, greatest goalie (Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez)."
Matteo was originally supposed to meet Messi a year ago through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but his dad and brother got sick, so the family had to cancel to avoid putting other kids at risk.
The World Cup provided an unexpected second chance.
"We never thought that we could make his wish come true," Diaz said.
But the Victory Project provided a do-over for Matteo.
"It was just amazing,” Diaz said. “It was a great, the greatest experience I think that he will remember and cherish for the rest of his life.”
The family went to Argentina’s opening-match win June 16 against Algeria at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and also watched Ecuador, Pablo’s native country, settle for a scoreless draw Saturday against Curacao.
On Monday, I caught up with Matteo again as he watched Messi score two more goals in a win against Austria, but — for all the great memories being made with the World Cup in Kansas City — Pablo said nothing compares to seeing his son get to be a kid again.
"We met Messi; we went to their game, saw him score a hat trick; we went to the Ecuador game, felt a lot of energy and love there; but honestly, the biggest, most wonderful thing that I've noticed and that I've not experienced is watching Matteo wanting to go play," Pablo said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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