At the age of seven months, Max Matthews was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. Dr. Steve Guertin was able to save his life, allowing Max’s parents, Natalie Hool and Jim Matthews, to have six more years with him.
During his battle with meningitis, Max went deaf, required a cochlear implant and required surgery on his eye. Max died, at age 7 in March 2005, after suffering an unexpected seizure.
A few months after Max’s passing, Hool and Matthews decided to host a 5K to honor Max’s memory. They decided to call it Max’s Race, and held the first edition on the campus of Michigan State in July 2005. They received help setting up the race from both the Sparrow Foundation and running apparel store Playmakers, and started to get volunteers and corporate sponsors. They were also able to get a lot of runners to take part in the first race.
“Jim and I used to own a health club,” Hool said. “We had a lot of runners and someone had suggested doing a 5K to honor Max. It was pretty successful for its first year, people from the club volunteered and ran in it. I think it was really important that Max’s life be recognized, and for us, it was integral for his name to go on.”
Max’s parents served as race directors for the next 15 years until they decided to hand over the race to The Davies Project, following the 2019 race. The Davies Project is a non-profit organization in Lansing, which aims to provide free and reliable transportation to medical care appointments for families with seriously ill children or pregnant mothers.
Hool and Matthews felt like it was the perfect organization to hand over the race to.
“We felt like The Davies Project would give the race new life” Hool said. “They would have different ideas about the race, different ideas about sponsorships and a little bit of a different focus. We liked it because the race would still remain kid-oriented.”
Guertin had introduced Max’s parents to the founder and CEO of the The Davies Project, Pamela Miklavcic, back in 2017 when they had been donating money to Sparrow Hospital. They liked the work The Davies Project was doing and started donating a portion of the race money to it over the next few years. After forming a relationship, Miklavcic was honored when they suggested The Davies Project take over the race, which she would rename to Max’s Race for The Davies Project.
“Natalie came to me in 2020, and said that putting on the race was getting more difficult for her, especially because more people didn’t know who Max was as they got farther away from his passing,” Miklavcic said. “The race was losing some of the meaning for the family. They asked if we wanted to take over, and I said ‘Yes, and we want to keep Max at the forefront still.’”
Miklavcic knows firsthand what it’s like to deal with the struggles of providing care for a sick child, with her son Peter diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3. He had a three and a half year battle with the disease, and luckily survived. Miklavcic was inspired to make an impact after witnessing the challenges many other families around her went through.
“I saw too many families struggling, who couldn’t even make it to their medical appointments,” Miklavcic said. “If you can’t get there, what are your chances of survival, never mind thriving in this world? All we need are volunteers to help get these kids to their appointments, to bring the missed appointment rate down. That’s what we built this agency around.”
Miklavcic started The Davies Project in 2014, after spending years working alongside Dr. Dele Davies, the former chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Human Development at MSU. She noticed Davies’ work to improve pediatric health care, and ended up naming the project after him. The organization has continued to grow over the past 12 years. In 2025, it gave more than 4,300 rides to medical appointments with help from their 65 volunteer drivers.
They have also been successfully holding Max’s Race for The Davies Project for six years now, with race director Michelle O’Kelly hosting the race since The Davies Project took over.
“Max’s Race I heard about not too long after Max passed away,” O’Kelly said. “I was working for Playmakers at the time. I had some other events and would do some cross-promotion with them. Then I came on board to work with The Davies Project for this race during 2021.”
O’Kelly became dedicated to directing the race and ended up joining The Davies Project Board of Directors for a few years before moving to northern Michigan in 2024. Even though she is no longer a part of The Davies Project, she still comes down every year to host the race, holding it in a special place in her heart.
“The work The Davies Project is doing is pretty incredible,” O’Kelly said. “I know that they work really hard, and pretty much every penny they make from this race goes right back into the cause. So it’s just been a soft spot in my heart.”
As Max’s Race for The Davies Project prepares for its 21st annual race, remembering Max and continuing to improve the pediatric health care system has never been more important. Max’s parents still attend the race every year since The Davies Project took over, with Hool giving a speech at the beginning of the event, as she looks to carry on Max’s legacy.
“For all the different things he went through, he was strong as an ox,” Hool said. “He was a little kid with a big smile, and had pain tolerance like nobody’s business. He’s the light of our life for sure, and he made an impact on a lot of people.”