Father’s Day will be totally different this year for Matt Arey and his family – it comes in the middle of his cancer treatment.
Upon being diagnosed with metastatic lymphoma in April, Arey’s first thoughts were of his family, Emily, his wife of 19 years, and daughters, Reese, 13, and Wren, 9. The 45-year-old, a consummate family man, immediately took a medical hardship from the Elite Series to begin treatment.
“The only thing that hit me and took me to my knees was thinking about our girls,” Arey said. “My number one goal is to be here for them. Period.
“I don’t have a fear, so to speak, in this world of dying or anything like that, but I do have a fear of leaving them too early. My goal is just to make sure I’m here for them.”
With an oncology specialist putting him on an aggressive treatment plan, Arey has hopes for a full recovery despite a long, hard road ahead. He’s planning to return for the 2027 Elite season, and almost as important, getting healthy enough to go bow hunting this fall.
Emily would be all for that. She was shaken when a CT scan showed cancer metastasized from his lymph nodes to his liver and spleen, which categorized it with the frightening term “Stage 4.” The “worrier” of the two, Emily’s mind raced, not only for Matt, but for their daughters.
“The thing that took us both to the ground was thinking about the girls — who’s going to be there for them?” she said. “As good of a human being that he is, he’s an even better daddy.
“What makes it such a heavy situation is that ‘C’ word. It’s a word you don’t even want to say much less have to face. It was just crushing to think about, but as we learned more and got educated — we’ve got a fabulous oncologist — we found it’s something that we could face together.”
The Areys have tremendous confidence in Dr. Reed Friend, a blood cancer specialist at Levine Cancer Center in Charlotte, about an hour from their home in Shelby, N.C. Friend explained all the particulars of lymphomas and the great success rate of modern medicine. Mapping out treatment plans, she eased their minds somewhat.
“I am a processor, a worrier,” Emily said. “I will say our oncologist has been my saving grace. When we see her, I feel better. I feel positive. He has a subtype of lymphoma that is technically harder to treat and harder to cure, and that is the thing that I do worry about.”
Matt jumped in to remind her that even though it might be harder to cure, it is in fact curable.
“That doesn’t mean I only have a 20% chance,” he said. “That means I might have a 62% chance instead of a 98%. We have a good chance of curing it.
“In her mind, and I’m just breaking this down because it’s the truth, if there’s a 5% chance of something bad happening, that’s what she’s going to think is going to happen. Now I’m not being mean, she just can’t control that. That’s just the way she processes.”
This week, Arey underwent his second chemotherapy infusion, which are 21 days apart. Blood tests after his first round were positive.
“The good news is, we’ve only had one treatment and my liver enzymes are back down,” he said. “All my labs are pretty strong. They’re not flawless, but they’re good. We have a lot back in the normal range. So it seems that my body’s accepting it well.”
“I have six cycles in this treatment plus a couple little things at the end. There are five different drugs. I have two immunotherapy drugs, two of what they call regular old school chemo drugs (Red Devil), and then I have a steroid. They talk about how fast this stuff can start working. All my blood tests checked out really good, except my white blood cells.”
With a pillbox fuller than his granddad’s and a list of dos and don’ts, Arey is following the plan to a T.
“I have a pretty strict guideline,” he said. “It’s kind of wild, like no fruits with the skin on, no raw vegetables, don’t get dog saliva on you. You’re just so susceptible to stuff during the midpoint of the cycle.”
For his youngest’s ninth birthday party, Arey masked up to visit briefly with the guests, passing on shaking hands and hugging.
“The girls are continuing about their lives, and we’re doing everything to keep it just as normalized as we can,” he said. “They are very aware of what’s going on. They’re very aware that daddy has cancer. They’ve done really well with it, but life looks a little different for them now.
“But it’s curable. We’re going to beat this. It’s just going to take a little time, and we’re going to go on about our lives afterward. And that’s kind of where they’re at in their minds.”
Emily said the girls have been real troopers. She was surprised by a “sweet tribute” from Wren and friend Megan Hoyle Allen. While sitting for his second infusion, the Areys were brought to tears by their chalk art showing a leaping bass and labeled “Arey Strong.”
Matt’s reputation as a man of integrity, reliability and loyalty extends to fatherhood, Emily said.
“He has always put his family first,” she said. “The girls, it’s hard for them to see him not feeling well, being weak and just having different challenges than he’s had in the past, but we are doing our best to take care of him.”
That includes grooming. A side effect of chemo is hair loss, and the girls turned that into play.
“They thought it was a game to run their hands through my hair to see how many hairs would come out,” he said. “Once it started falling out, I just went ahead and got it cut pretty short because it’s a lot easier to manage. It’s thinned out a lot. I imagine it’ll be completely gone in the next couple weeks.”
Nausea can be another side effect. Contacted Thursday, Arey said he thought it was starting that morning, or maybe he was just hungry.
“I’ll test this theory, so I cooked me two homemade bacon, egg and cheese biscuits with hot sauce on them,” he said. “I ate both and drank me two cups of coffee and couple hours later, I felt just fine. They settled just fine, so we’re okay.”
Eating like a horse and consuming beneficial foods like protein shakes, Arey said he’s actually gained four or five pounds, a good sign. He does have to take it easy for periods after treatment, which meant missing a fishing trip with longtime friend Bryan Thrift. He was well enough to go fishing this week when Elite road mate Scott Canterbury dropped by after the Pasquotank River event.
“Canterbury went out with me and a good friend of mine on Sunday morning for a few hours before he headed on back to Alabama,” Arey said. “We went out to a local lake and caught about 25 spotted bass and had a ball.
“I got another trip planned this Saturday morning. We’re just going to the local lake here that I grew up fishing, because it’s close and I can cut it short if I have to.”
Arey had enough energy to meet Saturday morning with friends to play a few games of pickleball. Staying as active as he can will help in his battle, he said.
The support from friends, family and the bass fishing community has been overwhelming. The well wishes poured in after news spread, and anglers are calling to check up on him. He said his partners at Toyota and Dynamic Sponsorships have gone above and beyond.
“They’re not just sponsors — they’re truly family and they have done so much,” he said. “I can’t say enough about them. They sent meals, DoorDash gift cards. Dynamic sent the girls customized Vermont Teddy Bears saying, anytime you need a hug, you just hug this. It’s stuff that has broke my wife and I down into tears.”
Emily takes comfort in all the support, even the stuffed bears.
“His sponsors and everybody have been amazing, and of course our family and friends,” she said, admitting she end up holding the Teddy Bear while laying down with Wren.
Arey recently received a reassuring 20-minute call from former B.A.S.S. tournament director Trip Weldon, who recovered from a similar cancer and a reoccurrence.
“It’s great hearing stories like that,” Arey said. “This specific type has about 50% shot of reoccurrence. One of the drugs in my treatment that was approved in 2024 actually stopped the chances of recurrence by over 20% of what it was previously.”
Weldon’s symptoms began with back pain. Arey first noticed something awry shortly after starting his eighth Elite season. Arey, who gets bi-annual checkups with his doctor in Shelby, N.C., said his blood tests last November were normal. Less than four months later, lymphoma began its attack on his body; the first sign was soaking night sweats.
“Literally the day before I left for the Arkansas River event, something just told me to get on the scale,” Arey said. “I’d lost like 10 or 11 pounds. I felt it was really fast.”
Emily and the girls were on the driveway doing their customary chalk drawing for his departure. He walked out to tell Emily she should schedule a doctor’s appointment for him upon his return.
“She was a little flustered at first, but then immediately made me a doctor’s appointment for Tuesday in case I ended up making a Top 10,” he said.
During practice for the Elite in Muskogee, Okla., Arey said he became abnormally fatigued around noon each day. And his appetite decreased, even for Canterbury’s tasty cuisine.
“I’ve never not wanted to sit down and clean my plate and usually go back for seconds,” Arey said. “I couldn’t eat that much. I ate two pieces of crappie and a few fries. It wasn’t because I wasn’t hungry. I was just full.
“Come to find out that the inflammation and everything that was going on, too.”
After a bevy of tests and scans, his primary physician referred him to the Levine Cancer Center. Last year, Arey missed his first Classic since joining the Bassmasters, but he was on track to qualify this season, standing 20th in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.
“We were having a good year and fishing well, feeling great,” he said. “I was really focused and was fishing with an open mind and making good decisions. It was the easiest decision I ever made to step away. It’s been a little bit hard to deal with, knowing the Classic is coming back to Hartwell.
“But there’s more important things in life, and I understood what I had to do.”
That’s to be there for the girls. Matt knows the fight ahead, and he’s concentrating on getting well. So much so that Sunday’s Father’s Day slipped his mind.
“I’d forgotten about that until you brought it up,” he said. “We don’t have any big plans. I haven’t been going to church and stuff, obviously, because it’s inside with large groups of people and I’m told not to do that.
“So it’ll be pretty intimate, I’m sure, and a little eye-opening, but at the same time, it’ll be good.”
The bass fishing world is praying that Arey will enjoy many more Father’s Days.
