Run will help Maverick Bench, family, with expenses

The Columbia Falls Lions Club is putting on a virtual 5K race on Oct. 17 to help raise funds for 8-year-old Kalispell youngster Maverick Bench.

Just nine months ago, the stocky, fair-haired boy was dirt biking with his four brothers, roughhousing with high schoolers from the Kalispell wrestling club, lifting weights with his dad and sweeping up the competition on the wrestling mat.

Today the tough young brawler lies in critical care at Children’s Hospital Colorado near Denver, battling a severe form of aplastic anemia, a condition where a patient’s bone marrow doesn’t produce enough new blood cells.

The transition began this spring when Maverick’s mother and father, Colleen and Logan Bench noticed he was starting to show bruising all over his body, said Logan Bench in a recent interview with Hungry Horse News.

Initially Logan Bench said he dismissed the bruising, chalking it up to the rowdy play of an active kid. Maverick had been showing no other concerning signs of weakness or fatigue, still benching a remarkable 150 pounds as a wrestler in the 55 pound weight class.

But eventually they did go in for a checkup and Maverick’s bloodwork came back indicating a severely low blood count due to having only 5% of normal bone marrow content, said Logan Bench.

This set the family off on a medical journey that included multiple blood transfusions, and an emotional search for a bone marrow match. Maverick’s four brothers were not a match, but a bone marrow drive by the wrestling club brought in hundreds of donors from the valley, and culminated in an eventual bone marrow transplant earlier this summer.

Initially the transplant looked to be successful, with the prospect of Maverick

being discharged to the hospital apartments around day 20 of the standard 100 day care. However, just before being released, Maverick started experiencing complications.

“Since that day, my poor little Maverick has hit every roadblock that you could hit,” Logan Bench said. Currently Maverick is exhibiting symptoms that defy any known diagnosis, oscillating in and out of the ICU and going through test after test.

In a recent Facebook update on Maverick’s condition, Logan Bench posted, “During one discussion with a few of his team members it was brought up that there may be a medical journal article written about Maverick. A case study of his diagnosis, symptoms, treatment plans... we tried to joke that what he is going through that doesn’t yet have a name may someday be referred to as the ‘Maverick syndrome’. As long as the article ends with a successful plan for recovery we don’t care what the hell it’s called.”

Columbia Falls Lions Club president, Kayla Hartley, had heard of Maverick Bench’s story through mutual family friends and stayed updated on his journey through the public Facebook page, “Maverick’s Warriors.”

Hartley, who took over the presidency less than a month ago, knew she had the resource of, in her words, “a community that loves to help” and she decided to put it to work.

The Columbia Falls Lions Club has partnered with four local breweries, SunRift Beer Company, Sacred Waters Brewing Company, Bias Brewing and Backslope Brewing, to create the Maverick’s Warriors Virtual 5K. Participants get a free beer coupon to one of the breweries as well as a “Maverick Medal” after registering.

Glacier Bank of Columbia Falls and the Lions Club donated the funds to purchase the medals through Silvertip Engraving, so all proceeds from the $25 registration prices will go directly to the Bench family.

As the event is virtual,

participants are encouraged to complete it at any time, in any manner.

The Maverick’s Virtual 5K Facebook event page says, “Due to covid-19 and limited amounts of people in one place- you will do your 5k on your own- you can run, walk, bike, hike, yoga, dance, motorcycle, skip or just sip a beer! Once you sign up you can select a pickup location for your Maverick Medal and your one free beer coupon — the coupon can be used at one of the participating breweries for a free beer!”

To register for the event, go to https:// runsignup.com/Race/ MT/ColumbiaFalls/