NATCHEZ — When Jennifer McGivaren talked about her husband, Matt, recently she rolled her eyes to the side and sighed.

“Oh, he’s a character,” she said, shifting around in her seat.

A smile cracks, the first in a serious conversation about Matt’s stage 4 colorectal cancer.

“He’s humorous. He never says a negative thing,” Jennifer said. “All the kids’ (friends) come by our house to be with him,” Jennifer said.

The couple, now parents to Landry, 17, Drew, 15, and Cole, 10, have known each other nearly all their lives.

It’s funny, she said, the way they met.

“We were each other’s first crushes when we were 9 years old,” Jennifer said.

Matt and Jennifer were neighbors. They grew up playing together in the Westover Heights area, she said.

They remained close friends through most of school at Adams County Christian School until, like most teenagers do, they parted ways with different crowds during high school.

But by the time they were 20, they found each other again and were married at 21.

Still, with her entire knowledge of Matt from the sandbox, down the aisle and to the maternity ward with their third child, she said it’s sometimes difficult to grasp how he stays so strong.

“He lifts me up at different times, I don’t understand how,” Jennifer said.

Matt was diagnosed with cancer in May 2010 at age 37. Since he was an offshore oil-fielder, his doctor recommended treatment options he could receive at work. But the couple decided to fight it aggressively.

Jennifer said it’s been tough on Matt not being able to carry the role of the provider for the family.

“Men are so prideful,” she said.

But she continued to reassure him of what he already knew — that what the family needed most was for him to stay with them.

Before Matt was diagnosed, Jennifer said everything seemed to be coming together for their family for the first time all at once.

“He’d just gotten a huge promotion at a big oil company, it was the best we’d ever been doing in 18 years of marriage,” she said.

The boys were doing great, she said.

“And then everything just came crashing down.”

Matt noticed symptoms that could have been blamed on any other number of things. And it took him six months to tell Jennifer about the bleeding.

Immediately after he confronted her, they made doctor appointments and set up a colonoscopy with their family physician that told them he spotted a tumor.

“Immediately (after that) it was a whirlwind,” Jennifer said.

Dr. Jack Rodriguez told them the cancer had already metastasized to his liver.

For two years Matt has received chemotherapy every two weeks, but last week was the first time Jennifer let Matt see her cry, she said.

“I have my moments, but I do that alone,” she said, referring to tears.

When doctors at M.D. Anderson in Houston told them last week the cancer had progressed in his liver and lungs, she broke.

The hardest part, Jennifer said, while keeping their focus on their faith in God and hoping for the best, is knowing she can’t do anything to help him when he’s having a bad day.

“‘You’re a fixer, and you can’t fix this,’” Matt tells Jennifer, she said.

So the couple continues to live their lives. They go to ball games — Drew and Cole play baseball and Drew also plays football — they visit with friends, they cook and Matt goes grocery shopping. They remain active at First Baptist Church of Vidalia, and the community there has been extremely supportive, she said.

Especially now, the mundane routines are never taken for granted.

As for the boys, they seem to be taking it well and vocalizing it as much as Jennifer said someone can expect elementary and teenage boys to vocalize it — not much.

Landry got a job waiting tables at the Sandbar Restaurant to help out with expenses, which Jennifer said makes her proud.

But the family believes in being open and honest, so whatever questions their sons have, their parents answer.

Jennifer said if she could give advice to others, it would be to know your family history and get everything checked out accordingly. She said she and Matt recently learned that Matt’s family history of breast cancer could be linked to a risk of colon cancer.

Since it’s known as “the silent killer,” Jennifer said, family history might have been what tipped him off before the symptoms he noticed indicated it was already deep into the progression.

But the best lesson she’s learned through the experience is gratitude.

“Before we sailed through life, but (Matt’s cancer) totally changes your outlook and priorities,” she said.

“We basically cherish every day that we have with him.”