Teen with cancer honored with postal parade

CLAY, NY (KTRK) -- A New York teen with cancer who loves the postal system was recently honored with a special delivery.

Matthew Watkins -- who waits for the mail to come every day -- got a surprise this week: a full fleet of mail trucks showed up in front of his house, WSYR reports.

Matthew's mom, Jennifer Watkins, said, "We would go take pictures at the post office. Count all the mail trucks to make sure they got home safe."

Sarah Watkins, Matthew's sister, added, "We just park next to the gate, and he just looks in and take pictures on his iPad."

Liverpool Postmaster Lanny Hicks said 17-year-old Matthew knows his mail carrier personally. However, eight months ago, Matthew was diagnosed with leukemia and received treatment in a Rochester hospital.

Now he's home and he recently enjoyed his postal parade.

Sarah Watkins said, "He's not defined by his disease, he wasn't always like this."

Jennifer Watkins added, "He has a lot of work to do but he's doing it he's getting stronger every day."