Max Royka, age 5
The Inspiration and story behind Max It Out...
The inspiration for our event is a little boy who had bacterial meningitis when he was just six weeks old. His name is Max, the name-sake for our event. Max It Out! He spent seven weeks at the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. During that seven week stay, the friends of Max's parents wanted to help out in some way, but didn't know how. So one friend, Mary Zic, figured out a way to let everyone help out. She organized a fund-raiser for Max's benefit. She created a 5-mile run called Run to the Max and a song writer's night called Jam to the Max. Both events took place on the same day just a couple of months after Max returned home from the hospital. A year later, Max's parents, Matt and Jill Royka, realized they had a calling. The calling was to create an event similar to Jam to the Max to raise funds for meningitis research, a proactive approach in an effort to eliminate the disease.

Jill, who needed to quit working due to Max's extra needs, had time to organize the event. And Matt, owner of a personal training company, worked with several clients who were celebrities. Matt asked his friend Keith Urban, country music super star, if he would get involved with our efforts. Keith was happy to and that's how "Keith Urban's Max It Out for Meningitis" began.

Words from Max's parents...
"Our son, Max, was born a perfectly healthy baby on June 1, 2000. At six weeks of age, he had no symptoms of being ill, but became deathly ill within a matter of two hours. As we rushed him to the hospital, he began having trouble breathing. In the emergency room, physicians discovered through a lumbar puncture ('spinal tap') that Max had meningitis. Meningitis is a disease caused by any germ that manages to get into the spinal fluid and lining of the brain (the meningies). It is unknown why one body allows germs to pass into the meningies and another does not. Max's immune system was simply too vulnerable to fight the vicious bacteria, as he was a newborn. He is now a little boy and shows the complications due to his short bout with meningitis. Due to the swelling of the brain when he had meningitis, he has brain damage. That has caused visual impairments, Diabetes Insipidus, low tone, loss of speech, delayed motor skills, and a Mic-key button (feeding tube). We, as parents, want to help prevent others and their families from having to experience this vicious and mysterious attack.
Matt Royka and Jill Royka, Founders of Max It Out