USA First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

Dear First Lady Cecilia Abbott,
My name is Debbie Peterson and Matthew Neal Harvey was born on September 15, 1991. He
is a beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend, and dad to his dog Roxi. Matt
was the first born to his mom and dad. Matt was always in the gifted and talented classes. He
played various sports growing up and settled into playing band through his junior and high
school years. Matt's senior class at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, Texas went to
state his senior year and they placed in the top 10.
Matthew was a genius with a Master's degree. He was an avid skateboarder and musician.
Matt loved reading, music, movies, traveling, his family, his friends, and his dog Roxi. Matthew
was the first on his mom's side of the family to go to a university straight from high school.
Matt wrote his own music and has a YouTube channel that shows him singing and playing his
guitar. Matt is charismatic, handsome, smart, funny, and very caring.
Matt loved to try new adventures with his best friends Zach and Brandon, who he has known
since junior high. Matt and his brother Ryan had a great relationship and spent their adult
years vacationing and hanging out together. Reading and enriching his life was always a
priority. He enjoyed learning and talking about what he was learning. He loved to try to make
everyone see his point of view and would argue his points so well with sound reasoning. Matt
was working at the University of Texas, Arlington campus for about 4 years. He was trying to
go to Spain to teach English in 2020 when the pandemic began, and the borders shut down
and he couldn’t go.
Matt experimented with some drugs and alcohol in high school, and I did everything that I
could to stop it and guide him. Once he went to college, he was introduced to some harder
drugs. He overdosed on heroin in 2012 and was revived in the emergency room and put in the
ICU. From there, he went to rehab for six months. That saved his life, and we were able to
have a wonderful 9-1/2 years with him after that. Those years were filled with family vacations
and family get togethers and just spending time together as a family. Those years were some
of the happiest of my and his family's life.
In 2020, the pandemic stopped many young people from being able to have dates, spend time
together and just go out and have fun. It started a bit of depression for Matt. He started
seeking out pills and such during this time. I tried everything that I could think of to help.
For New Year's 2021, going into 2022, we went down to South Padre Island to visit family. We
had a wonderful time with family and enjoyed spending the New Year together. We went to
Mexico as an outing during our vacation. I found out later that while we were there, Matt went
into a pharmacy and bought some oxycodone pills. They weren't legitimate pills. We left South
Padre Island on 1/2/2022 to come home. That would be the last day I would hug my son and
tell him that I loved him.
921