Bone marrow drive inspired former anchor’s donation

Former KGMB news anchor Kevin Walsh has written his second book, "Follow the Dog Home," released earlier this month. We look back at his time spent in Hawaii and find out what he’s been up to since he left the islands.

Walsh hails from Abington, Pa., located near Philadelphia. After graduating from high school, Walsh had aspirations to play golf on the PGA Tour and was given a golf scholarship to Purdue University.

A career in journalism came by accident.

"I thought I would play on the PGA Tour. I believe I had the game for it, but the lifestyle wasn’t for me. So I thought about what I was good at. I was a good speaker and storyteller, so broadcasting seemed like a natural fit," said Walsh.

After graduating from Purdue in 1992, Walsh landed a radio job in Frankfort, Indiana.

"It was a very rural area. I did news, sports and crop reports," said Walsh.

Seeking a television job, he landed one a year later in Guam working for the local cable station. While there, Walsh served as a general-assignment reporter and became the main news anchor in just six months.

In 1995, he sent a tape to KGMB news director Don Rockwell, who hired Walsh and quickly promoted him from reporter to anchor. Walsh credits Rockwell for giving him his big break.

"Don was thoughtful with his input and very positive. He took a chance on hiring me, and then promoting me to 5 o’clock anchor quickly. It wasn’t exactly popular, but Don believed in me. I owe my career to him," he said.

Walsh co-anchored the KGMB News with Teri Okita and Jade Moon. Other colleagues include Stacy Loe, Brenda Salgado, Bob Loy, Chuck Little, Tim Tindall and Sandra Sagisi.

In 1996, two stories Walsh covered changed his life.

"Chris Pablo and Alana Dung both had leukemia and were searching for very rare unrelated bone marrow donors. Chris was 46, Alana was 2," Walsh recalled. "Chris made an incredible discovery in his basket at the driving range. It was a very old golf ball with the words "BEAT LEUKEMIA" stamped on the side. How does that ball find its way into his basket, and not the baskets of dozens of other golfers at the range?"

The awareness for bone marrow donors increased greatly in Hawaii after Pablo’s and Dung’s stories went public. More than 30,000 residents signed up to be donors after Dung’s story broke.

In telling these stories and encouraging viewers to become donors, Walsh knew he had to become a donor himself.

"Quietly I registered as a potential donor at one of Alana’s drives. Four years later (in 2000), my career had taken me to California. Out of the blue, I get a call from the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry that I’ve turned up as a bone marrow match for a 16-year-old boy in St. Louis, Mo. It’s the only match in the world," said Walsh. "Doctors drilled into my pelvis, sucked the marrow out, and transplanted it into the boy I’d never met. None of this happens if Chris Pablo didn’t find that golf ball in his basket."

Inspired by these stories and his personal experience as a donor, Walsh wrote "The Marrow in Me," published in 2009. The book will be re-released this July in both paperback and e-book.

Walsh has a new book, "Follow the Dog Home," co-written by three generations of Walshes. They each tell personal stories about the love and passion they have for dogs and how their canines brought their families closer together. The book can be purchased at www.followthedoghome. com and most major retailers.

After Walsh left Hawaii in 1997, he went on to anchor the news at KGPE, the CBS affiliate in Fresno, Calif. In 2003, Walsh was hired by CN8 (Comcast Network) near his old stomping grounds of Philadelphia, where he served as morning, midday and evening news anchor. He worked there with former KITV anchor Janet Zappala.

Since 2009, Walsh has anchored and reported sports for Comcast SportsNet New England in Boston. Recently, Walsh was at the White House as President Obama honored the Boston Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup team, and just last weekend, he covered the New England Patriots at Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

Walsh loves the Boston area.

"Boston is just special. The people who live here are very proud of who they are, what they have, and the city’s history. When you’re proud of the backyard, you take care of the place. Bostonians know they’re lucky to live where they do, much like Hawaii residents do," he said.

But Walsh will never forget his days in Hawaii.

"I always dreamed of vacationing in Hawaii. I did so much better. It’s one thing to visit Hawaii, another thing to live Hawaii. You can take the boy out of Hawaii, but you can’t take Hawaii out of the boy," he said. "The spirit of aloha is such a big part of who I am, forever. I miss the people and the culture. I miss stopping for shave ice at Matsumoto’s after surfing on the North Shore. I miss Kua ‘Aina Sandwich on Kamehameha Highway. I could go on and on. Hawaii was just such a special place for me and my wife, Jean."

On the Net
www.followthedoghome.com

A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.