On May 29, Kai was enjoying a relaxing Saturday off, home from his first year at university. On May 30, he developed a headache and a fever. On June 1, he was disconnected from life support. This is how quickly meningitis B can ravage youth.
In the spring of 2021, Kai Matthews was 19 years old and full of life. A star athlete and social dynamo, Kai was well-loved by all in the tight-knit Halifax-area community of Upper Tantallon. In 2019, he had earned a spot at the Canada Games, representing Nova Scotia in freestyle snowboarding. As indomitable as Kai was on the field of competition, he was also kind, loving, and imbued with a quiet and generous confidence in all arenas of life. It was his warmth, humility, and dedication that made him so dear to his friends, his family, his girlfriend Paige, and his community as a whole.
“Kai loved life,” says his mother Kari. “He was an all-in kind of guy. You name it and he’d be there to do it with love and happiness. Not a day would go by that we didn’t get at least a hug or an ‘I love you’ from him.”
Graduating high school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kai went on to pursue kinesiology at Acadia University. After completing his first year, he came back to Upper Tantallon for the summer, secured a job at the local boat shop, and began to take his first steps into adulthood.
“Kai was really starting to enjoy the things that make up an adult life,” says his father Norrie. “He would have coffee with me in the morning before he went off to his full day of work at the boat shop or we’d have a beer on Friday after a long week of work. We loved being together as a family and just enjoying the little moments.”