Osseo’s varsity hockey team was preparing for a conference game last winter when a young man gave a rousing pep talk. But he wasn’t in an Orioles uniform. Coach Kevin Willey called on diminutive team manager Matt Kellogg to rally the team.
In the bowels of the Coon Rapids arena last January, Kellogg, who has a kidney disease that prohibits him from playing contact sports, spoke about his flaming desire to play and his advice on the game’s underlying meaning.
“I would love to be out there,” Kellogg recalls saying. “I’d do anything to play one shift with you. … It doesn’t matter what the score is at the end. What matters is having fun.”
The Orioles had fun—and won. They scored two shorthanded goals and cruised to a 4-1 win over the Cardinals. Afterward, Osseo defenseman Sam Christofferson recommended Kellogg as the winner of the team’s hard-hat award—an honor usually bestowed on a player who displayed intangible traits such as hustle and dedication. That night, Kellogg wore the orange hat with pride.
“He’s positive even if you did something wrong,” says senior defenseman and captain Aaron Dolby, who has known Kellogg since preschool. “Everyone loves having him around.”
Kellogg’s around because the doctors noticed something on the day he was scheduled to leave the hospital after birth. Matt’s kidneys felt enlarged, so he was sent in for follow-up tests. “It was a normal pregnancy; we didn’t think anything was wrong,” says Matt’s mother Cindy Kellogg.
On the following Monday, Cindy and Paul Kellogg heard the diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder of numerous cysts on the kidneys.
“We felt fortunate doctors caught it early,” Cindy says. “It’s usually one of the diseases you don’t know you have until you get sick.”
Doctors told the Kelloggs that the prognosis was unknown. Matt’s kidney could give out in a day, a week, a month or years. At age 11, Matt’s situation worsened and doctors said a transplant was needed within a year.
Since Matt doesn’t have siblings, the best possible donor candidates were his parents. Paul was ruled out because of preexisting medical conditions; Cindy stepped forward.
As Cindy went through the yearlong testing process, the Kelloggs received a bevy of support. About 10 friends and neighbors sent in blood samples to see if they could give.
“It was amazing to us,” says Cindy, who stresses the need for people to be organ donors. “He went to Cedar Island Elementary, and we had an outpouring of support from the school and community.”
Soon after, tests showed Cindy was a match. “I prayed so hard that I would be a match,” she says. “My worst fear as a parent is we wouldn’t find a match.”
In June 2006, Matt and Cindy had surgery—together. “He went one way; I went the other,” she says of their destinations within the hospital.
The transplant was a success, but left Matt with a lifetime commitment to routine check-ups and immunosuppressant drugs so his body doesn’t reject his mom’s kidney. Every 12 hours, he takes heavy medication. “Your system could accept it today and reject it tomorrow,” Cindy says. “You just don’t know.”
Since the transplant five years ago, Matt has remained stable and overcomes the disease by finding ways to remain active. After begging his mom and doctors, he played baseball for a few seasons until the pitchers threw too hard. He has a 3.6 GPA and plans to attend college next fall. He is involved in theater, volunteering and leadership groups.
But helping and encouraging others is just an extension of what he does daily for himself. “I’ve been doing that my whole life, so it comes naturally,” Matt says. “I try to do that for everyone and not just hockey players.”
The hockey team, however, is especially grateful for Matt’s presence. “They know that he loves hockey and would do everything for them,” Willey says. “They respect him and want him around.”
