Lori McFate of Bettendorf is alive because of a stem cell transplant. Her son Matthew is passing on that priceless gift.
On Tuesday, Sept. 5, Matthew was with his best friend Zach Malchodi (both 2017 Bettendorf High School graduates) when Zach donated stem cells at a Be The Match collection center in Seattle, Wash.
Earlier this year, Malchodi was contacted by Be The Match that he was a match for a blood cancer patient somewhere in the world and asked if he would be willing to donate, Lori McFate said Wednesday. The only information he has about the recipient is that he’s a 70-year-old man.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I felt called to join the Be The Match registry in hopes of doing something great such as saving the life of a cancer patient in need of a stem cell transplant,” said Malchodi.
He reached out to BTM to join the registry bethematch.org, received a kit, swabbed, and returned it immediately. “It is just a quick cheek-swab to join the registry. I encourage everyone to consider joining the registry,” he said. “I am thrilled for the opportunity and pray this gives this man a great life.”
On Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, Malchodi and his best friend Matthew McFate flew to Seattle. Thanks to Be The Match, all their travel expenses were covered. McFate was ecstatic to be his travel companion and caregiver.
“My mom is alive, thanks to the same life-saving treatment,” he said. “I know, understand, and value stem and marrow donations. So going to support Zach was a no-brainer.”
Malchodi and McFate enjoyed a few hours of sightseeing around Seattle on Tuesday (after having his stem cells harvested) and Wednesday, before returning to Los Angeles, Calif., where they live.
Matthew is a model, actor, singer, and songwriter. He has been working more on new music lately due to the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes, his mom said Wednesday.
Zach also writes his own music and sings. He’s taking acting classes and is busy with studio sessions.
A Nebraska transplant
Lori McFate works as a public affairs specialist at Joint Munitions Command at Rock Island Arsenal. In 2001, she was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma and had chemo and radiation treatment for five years in both North Carolina and Iowa.
When all else failed, oncologist Dr. Stewart Garneau sent her to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to see a T-Cell specialist and bone marrow transplant specialist in February 2006.
“There were no matches anywhere in the world, so UNMC put me on another chemo,” McFate said Wednesday. A perfect match came on the registry a couple months later, so on June 22, 2006, she received a bone marrow transplant from a young man in Marl, Germany.
McFate has met him twice (the first time in December 2013); here in the QCA and then again during a layover in Belgium. (Watch a video of her first meeting her donor HERE.)
“Thanks to his marrow donation, I have seen 17 more years of life,” she said Wednesday. “We have known Zach since the boys started taking theater classes at Center for Living Arts in Rock Island with Dino and Tina Hayz right after my transplant. They both know my passion for joining the registry and donating when called.”
Stem cells (found in bone marrow) are the body’s raw materials — cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated, according to the Mayo Clinic. Under the right conditions in the body or a laboratory, stem cells divide to form more cells. No other cell in the body has the natural ability to generate new cell types.
For people with life-threatening blood cancers—like leukemia and lymphoma—or other diseases like sickle cell, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with their donor match for a life-saving blood stem cell transplant.
It provides patients and their families one-on-one support, education, and guidance before, during and after transplant. You can help save a life as a committed member of the Be The Match Registry, financial contributor or volunteer. To learn more about the cure, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1-800-MARROW-2 (800-627-7692).
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