N.S. man honours best friend with fundraiser to prevent future tragedies

The memory of a young N.S. man who suddenly died of a preventable infection was honoured with a fundraiser.

Tears of joy, comfort and hope filled a Bedford, N.S., gym when a round of applause broke out for a young man who ran 30 kilometres in honour of his best friend.

“The whole event revolved around his legacy and the impact that he made not only to myself but everyone up here,” Ryan said, after wrapping up hours running on a treadmill.

Ryan’s best friend, Kai Matthews, had just finished his first year at university when he contracted meningitis B and fought the infection for roughly 30 hours before he lost his battle on June 1.

READ MORE: Halifax family calling for change after 19-year-old’s sudden death from meningitis

Ever since he lost his son, Matthews has made it his mission to increase awareness about the common and deadly strain of meningitis that isn’t yet covered in Canada’s childhood vaccination schedule.

“Everyone we talked to about this since losing Kai did not know about meningitis B, we didn’t know about it ourselves and we’re vaccine savvy, we’ve done all the vaccines throughout our whole life, throughout the kid’s whole life,” he said.

Matthews joined Ryan on the final leg of his run during a full-day fundraiser that aimed to reduce the barriers many people may face in order to receive the meningitis B vaccine.

“Some people have to pay for it out of pocket, for some people, it’s out of reach for them, some students, they can’t afford it. It costs about $300 for two doses,” he said.