Matthew Walden with his grandmother, Maxine Kates

Matthew Walden may never have gotten to know his grandmother had she not received a bone-marrow transplant eight years ago. Maxine Kates of Avon was diagnosed with leukemia 10 years ago, when Matthew was 3. She was cured two years later, thanks to the generosity of a donor.
Now Kates’s grandson is about to become a bar mitzvah. He is marking both the occasion and the 10-year anniversary of Kates’s diagnosis by organizing a Be The Match bone-marrow registry drive on Thursday, June 30 from 3-7 p.m., at Congregation Kol Haverim, 1079 Hebron Ave. in Glastonbury.
The simple and free procedure, for adults aged 18 to 60, requires only a quick cheek-swab. Odds of being a match are in the neighborhood of one in 540, and a registry participant is not required to become a donor if determined to be a match. Today, 80 percent of bone-marrow transplants are non-surgical, involving a procedure similar to a blood transfusion. Those requiring a donor are much more likely to find a match within their own racial or ethnic group.
While Matthew is still too young to join the registry, he participates in leukemia and cancer walks to raise funds and awareness, and plans to get his cheek swabbed as soon as he turns 18.
“If my grandma didn’t get the bone marrow transplant, I wouldn’t have known her,” he says. “She survived because of someone who gave her a transplant. It’s a big deal to save someone’s life so if I’m ever a match, I would want to be a donor.”
A few years ago, Matthew’s mom, Robin, got close. When Kates was first diagnosed, many of her family members joined the bone-marrow registry. While Robin wasn’t a match for her own mother, she subsequently received three calls over the next several years to undergo follow-up tests. The week she was to become a donor, the request was dropped; the patient she matched may have died, she says.
Matthew says he hopes to inspire at least 15 people to join the registry. Kates will be at the June 30 event, a living tribute to the power of another’s generosity. Who knows how many more lives might be saved by those who register on that day? Because of the man in Chicago who walked in to a similar drive more than 10 years ago, Maxine Kates will dance at her grandson’s bar mitzvah come September.

For more information about Matthew’s bone marrow drive call (860) 657-8803 or email  robwalden@cox.net.