Everybody has heard the phrase, "impossible is nothing," but while few give those three words much thought, redshirt sophomore wrestler Matt Snyder lives his life by them. They are ingrained in his bones and run through his blood.
Snyder was born with a rare immunodeficiency disorder called Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a disorder that affects blood cells and the cells of the immune system. It is a sex-linked disease Matt inherited from his mother, a disease that killed her brother when he was only 3 years old. In May 1993, Matt underwent a bone marrow transplant procedure. Doctors told his parents he had a 5 percent chance of surviving. Snyder did, and he has continued to defy the odds ever since.
"He is a miracle," Virginia wrestling coach Steve Garland said. "He could have died but he survived. It is one of the reasons why he has such a good outlook on life, and why he doesn't take anything for granted. He knows how close he was to losing everything."
Fifteen years after the operation, Snyder was wrestling for Bloomsburg University, a small college in his home state of Pennsylvania, but he found himself wanting more. He wanted more of challenge, academically and athletically. He also wanted to attend the University, but to do so, Snyder had to convince a coach who knew very little about him that he should want Snyder too. The second challenge of Matt Synder's life proved to be not nearly as difficult as the first.
"I didn't know a whole lot about him," Garland said. "But I got to meet him and his family [on an official visit], and it was pretty apparent that his parents were great people, that he was a great kid, that he was an overachiever and that he was a guy that we want on the team."
Snyder joined the Cavaliers in 2009 and
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