In memory of Patrick: Middle School to host annual blood drive

The annual blood drive at Weston Middle School in honor of Patrick Mahoney will be held next week.

Kathleen Kavaney, an eighth grade math teacher, helps host the drive every year in honor of her son, who died in 2020 from medulloblastoma, a form of brain tumor, at age 6.

She first asked the school to host a blood drive four years ago to help other cancer patients who need blood donations to support them during cancer treatment. The American Red Cross states 1.9 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and blood transfusions can be an essential part of cancer treatments. While cancer patients use 25% of the national blood supply, only 3% of Americans donate blood in a given year, according to Red Cross figures.

“You unfortunately can’t cure cancer yet,” Kavaney said. “Some families start memorial funds. I hate asking people for money, so I did this.”

A joyful person

In the years following his death, Kavaney began to open up to her students about Patrick. She remembers him as a joyful child who wanted to be a pirate.

“We’d bring his tricycle into the clinic and chase him,” she said. “He wanted to be a kid.”

Some of her students have offered to donate blood, although as eighth graders, they are too young to do so. Kavaney said that they have volunteered their parents in their stead. Last year some former students began to donate, she said.

“The community has always been so welcoming,” Kavaney said. When Patrick was going for treatments, community members and colleagues donated food for her family and their personal days to her.

The blood drive will take place at Weston Middle School from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. Donors must bring a photo ID. People can schedule appointments online or walk-in, but they will be taken as the schedule allows.