Around 50 people gathered in Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park this morning (Sunday) to raise funds and awareness for Kidney Disease.
The Kidney Foundation of Canada held its 15th annual Kidney Walk in Prince George, their first in-person event in three years.
“We’re very excited to be back in person raising funds for kidney research, kidney education, and most importantly patient support services,” said Paul Revelle, Volunteer Walk Coordinator.
Revelle said the goal is to raise $20,000.
“It does three things, it provides money for research into kidney disease, so better treatment options and hopefully a cure one day,”
“Public education through things like our kidney wellness hub website, and most importantly patient support services.”
Revelle noted that for people in Northern BC living with kidney disease, there’s plenty of treatment options in the region.
“We’ve got a dialysis unit up at the hospital in Prince George, we have a dialysis unit at the Fort St. John hospital, another one in Terrace,” Revelle explained.
“A lot of people in Northern BC also do home dialysis where they can stay in their home community and dialysis at their own home.”
Revelle added that kidney disease is fairly unique.
“You can lose 80 per cent of your kidney function and not realize it,” he said.
“By the time most people realize they do have kidney disease, and it’s determined through a simple blood test, their options decrease in terms of what they can do for treatment.”
Today’s walk in Prince George was one of many held across Canada.
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