By Seth DuChene
Editor
The organizers of the annual Kingston Kidney Walk are hoping for a big Napanee turnout for the event in September.
Besides the fact that the Kingston chapter of the Kidney Foundation represents Napanee, this community knows the impact of kidney disease first-hand — a new dialysis unit at the L&A County General Hospital’s Westdale Complex provides a life-saving service to those suffering from the disease in this area.
Chances are you’d also be surprised by just how many people are coping with kidney disease as well: one in 10 Canadians suffer from kidney disease, and one out of three individuals with diabetes will experience kidney failure at some point in their lives. And while there are treatments available to help manage the condition, there is no cure for the disease.
That’s where the Kidney Walk — the Kidney Foundation’s major fundraiser for the year — comes in. Funds raised during the event not only go to research and public education, it also goes towards support for kidney disease patients.
Over the years, that research has made a difference, says Sandy Kauenhofen, president of the Kingston chapter of the Kidney Foundation, and the mom of a six-year-old daughter suffering from a rare form of kidney disease. “In 1980, you didn’t survive with this disease,” she says. “There was no chance. Now, with proper treatment… she has a better chance. She is probably going to need a transplant — when, we don’t know — but keeping on this treatment will be OK for right now.”
Patty Price, the Kingston chapter’s vice-president, tells a similar story. “Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with kidney disease,” she said. “(At that time) they thought originally that by the time I was 40, I would need a transplant. But, there has been so much education and support and all that in kidney disease, they’re thinking now that I’ll never need a transplant, that I’m going to continue to live the rest of my life with deteriorating kidneys, but the longevity of my life will be much better.”
Rachel de Waard, the Senior Manager of Community and Fund Development for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, says her husband has also been the beneficiary of advancements in kidney disease. “My husband received his kidney a year ago. His failure is from being a juvenile diabetic… but the year he was born, if you were a diabetic with kidney failure, the only option you had was palliative care — how do you want to die, at home or at the hospital?” she said.
“The Kidney Foundation’s focus on research has certainly made a difference,” de Waard adds. “We need to celebrate it more. We need to brag about it a little more to continue on the road we’re on.”
Celebrating those successes will be part of the picture for the walk on Sept. 24. Organizers are hoping to get people signed up, assembling teams and collecting pledges now.
Funds raised will also go to support local kidney disease patients in other ways. “It’s rough, being diagnosed with a disease that doesn’t go away. It requires support. Everything from short-term financial assistance to summer camps to peer support,” said de Waard.
Kauenhofen says they hope to raise at least $30,000 through the event. “The walk has become our staple fundraiser, and our opportunity to engage the community to support those patients and to show that we care and we’re there, and on top of all that, raise the money,” says de Ward.
The walk itself will take place at Lake Ontario Park. Although the course is five kilometres long, organizers say that participants need not walk the entire route if they’re not feeling up to it. Registration will start at 10 a.m., and the walk will get started at 11 a.m.
For more information or to sign up, visit kidneywalk.ca.
NOTE: A previous version of this story included an incorrect date for the event. The Kingston Kidney Walk is taking place on Sept. 24. The Beaver apologizes for the error.