Teen Cancer Survivor To Host Blood Drive In Sayville This Weekend

SAYVILLE, NY — Less than six months after being diagnosed with cancer, a Sayville teen is giving back to his community with a blood drive.

Matt Zender, 17, was diagnosed with bone cancer to his right lower leg in June. He underwent 10 weeks of chemotherapy followed by a 14-hour surgery to save his leg at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. He then underwent another 20 weeks of chemo and received several blood transfusions.

The Sayville community has raised more than $55,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to pay for Matt's treatment. Now, Matt has no evidence of cancer.

Matt serves as student body president and is working on his college application along with his triplet siblings, Christopher and Katherine. In addition, Zender is working on his Eagle Scout rank. For his scout project, he decided to host a blood drive to give back to the commuity that supported him.

"I was inspired while I was in the hospital because I saw that these kids need the blood," Matt told Patch. "Also with the pandemic going all, a lot of people need blood right now and it's just a good way to give back."

The blood drive will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the state blood center at 107 North Main Street in Sayville.

A week before the event, Matt has already received a massive amount of support from the community, local businesses and fellow classmates. His goal was to receive at least 55 pints of blood from the drive. He will hit that — as of Friday, 60 people had signed up. There was still room as of Monday; the drive can accept up to 100 people.

"Giving blood is very important because every one pint can save up to three lives and the need for blood right now is ginormous because not as many people have been donating over the past couple of months and the NY Blood Center has been very low on their blood supply," Matt said. "So even just these local blood drives can bring in a lot of blood to their centers to be distributed to hospitals all over Long Island hospitals."

His father, Mark, said he is very proud of his son.

"What he's overcome in the last year and (how) he's been able to turn it into something positive after beating cancer and now giving back after everything he's been through is just a testament of what he's capable of," he told Patch.

To sign up or learn more about the blood drive, click here. Coronavirus guidelines will be in place during the event, including mask-wearing and social distancing.