Matthew James Pockrandt, age 22, died on Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at his home in Green Bay. He was a pre-med major at Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wisconsin, when he was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer, Fibrolamellar Heptacellular Cancer.  This cancer affects young people and is almost always fatal since it tends to be discovered late and is so rare.  He died 13 months after he was diagnosed.
Matt was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 16, 1990, to Fred E. Pockrandt and Margaret Le Roy. He has two brothers and two sisters.
His one passion in life was sports. He played middle school basketball at Trinity Catholic and then high school ball at West High, Northeast Wisconsin Christian Homeschool Association and the Southeast Wisconsin Christian Knights in Waukesha, Wisconsin.   It is with the Knights that he first met the Jacksons.  In 2009, he was named Division 2 Most Valuable Player at the National Homeschool Basketball Tournament. He was a fearless goal keep for several teams in the Green Bay Kickers summer soccer league.
He loved to teach younger players the fine points of the game. He helped his father coach his sister’s homeschool high school basketball team.  For the past several summers, he was the much beloved Games Teacher at the Mi Pueblo Culture Camp in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
He was very passionate about helping others.  In 2010, he participated in a mission trip to Haiti to help the people of this country recover from their earthquake devastation. 
Matt met Isaac and Rose Jackson and family in 2008.  He was so impressed with their program and vision for helping youth that he initially commuted 120 miles one way to participate on the Southeast Wisconsin Christian Knights team.  Later, he got a temporary place in Milwaukee to participate full time.  The Jackson program made a lasting impression on him.  He was a strong leader in their program, teaching through example.  He was determined to work with them again as they relocated to the Arizona area.
Matt died too young.  He was a vibrant, passionate young man, so full of life. He had so many dreams and ambitions.  He was gifted in many ways.  He was loved by those that he touched and he touched a lot of people.  He wanted to help people.  He dearly wanted to help the Jackson’s vision for character development through Sports thrive.  He believed in their vision.  He saw the incredible difference that they made in kid’s lives.  He expected to work with them after he graduated from med school. 
Matt can’t do this now, but you can and your donation and participation will let his passion and memories live on in a program that he loved.
Thank you