NORTH PROVIDENCE - After six weeks in Germany, the 21-year-old man who sought an experimental coma treatment there for a debilitating pain condition, has returned to the United States with an outcome that leaves his parents with mixed feelings.

Matthew Irving returned to the family's one-story home on Linwood Street for two days. Suffering pain in his feet and one leg, he traveled to Philadelphia for more infusions of the anesthetic ketamine.

Matthew endured three weeks on a respirator in a Saarbrucken hospital while he was given large, coma-inducing doses of ketamine. Doctors use the ketamine coma to try to break the pain cycle of complex regional pain syndrome, also known as reflex sympathetic disorder, RSD. Some patients leave Germany pain-free.

Last week, doctors told Matthew, his mother Nancy, and his brother Daniel, 20, that they had offered all they could.

He left Germany with pain that remains in his feet and one leg, but with improvements in that he can eat, and no longer suffers from a pins and needles feeling, no jolts of pain up and down his spine, no pain in his hands, and no excruciating headaches.

"He is so much better than he had been," said Matthew's father, Russ Irving, on Monday, Aug. 25, after taking Matthew and Nancy to their flight to Philadelphia and Hahnemann University Hospital.

There, Matthew will be cared for by Dr. Robert Schwartzman, a pioneering neurologist in the treatment of RSD.

Russ said the treatment in Philadelphia could last at least one week, and that his health insurance doesn't cover the expenses. He is a computer programmer for the state.

Russ and his family have been supported by a network of friends and strangers reached on the Internet at the Web site Russ designed, setmattfreeofrsd.com.

Neighbors drop by with food, strangers send small donations, and friends have been organizing fund-raisers on a monthly basis since May.

Recently, donations have come from the Greystone Social Club and the Fraternal Order of Police, both in North Providence, and from the national headquarters of Russ's union, the Service Employees International Union, in Washington, D.C.

Another donation has come from Rabbi Leslie Gutterman of Temple Beth El in Providence, who is Russ' rabbi.

Russ said he is touched by kindness of people who don't know Matthew. One of them is teenager Deanna DeLuca, daughter of Russ's co-worker, Rhonda McKay of Warwick. Deanna and friends collected donations in front of the Shaw's supermarket in Garden City on Saturday and Sunday, raising $500.

"I was so moved," Russ said.

"I believe people are truly good and decent," Russ said. "So many people want to see this young man healthy again."

A co-worker has organized an Evening for Matthew Irving on Saturday, Aug. 30 from 5 to 9 a.m. at The Oaks Tavern, 103 Duke St., East Greenwich. Tickets are $20 per person for food, drink, and entertainment.

Contact russ@setmattfreeofrsd.com or call the Oaks Tavern at 884-9803.