“My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.” —Mohandas K. Gandhi

STAFF AND students at Red Bank High School are giving the Hopper family of Chattanooga a reason to be grateful this Thanksgiving season. More than 160 people have signed up to donate blood today to honor former student Matt Hopper who has terminal cancer. Matt, 20, has been battling a rare form of cancer since he was 14, said his aunt, Susie Thompson, a nurse.

“The boy has bounced back from surgery after surgery since he was 14, but there’s nothing more that can be done,” she said, noting Matt is the oldest of her brother’s three sons. “We’ve never had cancer in our family, so this was a shock and has been devastating.” The cancer was discovered after Matt was injured in a soccer game, she said.

“He got elbowed in the side and started vomiting blood. We thought it was an injury to his spleen. We never dreamed it would be a softballsized tumor that had burst in his kidney.”

The cancer is renal cell, a kind that rarely afflicts children, Ms. Thompson said. “There is no chemotherapy or radiation that can treat it. You just have to keep taking out tumors that continue to grow.”

Matt, with his positive attitude, never missed a beat, his aunt said.

“He graduated from Red Bank High School and went on to Tennessee Tech,” she said. “He even played sports.”

But his most recent bout with a tumor has been his biggest challenge. He was a sophomore majoring in engineering when he got the news.

“This time, the tumor is gigantic,” she said, noting it was discovered in July. “It’s attached to his colon and bladder, and it can’t be removed.”

Matt won’t give up, she said. “He’s in agonizing pain, but he’s still hopeful.”

Meanwhile, his friends and teachers are doing what they can to help — donating blood.

“He has inspired a movement,” Ms. Thompson said about the expected massive blood donation today. “He has a lot of friends, and he’s very moved at what they’re doing.”

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