Sarnia Kidney Walk Sept. 24 aims to raise $28,000

A 20-year tradition is set to continue Sept. 24 when this year’s kidney walk is held in Sarnia’s Canatara Park.

Organizers hope it raises $28,000 for the Kidney Foundation of Canada to fund programs for kidney patients and their families, as well as medical research.

Those wishing to take part in the walk, either as an individual or as part of a team, as well as those interested in making a financial donation, can go online to kidneywalk.ca and search for the Sarnia event.

Registration on Sept. 24 will begin at 9 am at the Seaway Kiwanis Pavilion next to the children’s animal farm in the park.

Kelisha Ott, chairperson of this year’s walk, said there is both a one-kilometre and five-km route.

“There will be a few speakers to talk about transplants and kidney disease,” she said. “And then, there will be the walk, followed by a barbecue.”

Greg Robbins describes himself as a Kidney Foundation volunteer “lifer” who has been involved for 50 years.

“My late wife had chronic kidney disease and she progressed to the point where she needed to go on kidney dialysis in 1973, just when we got married,” Robbins said.

“I was hooked into volunteering at that point in time and I’ve never really given it up,” he said.

He estimated the Sarnia walk to raise money for the foundation began 20 years ago and the community’s chapter was officially formed in 1984, after a local group operated initially as part of the chapter in London.

“It has been a long, successful story since then,” Robbins said.

The Sarnia walk has raised approximately $500,000 in total since it began to “support families and patients who are suffering from kidney disease,” he said.

“The walk is certainly a major source of revenue for the Kidney Foundation.”

Walks are held in communities across Canada.

The walk in Sarnia includes many patients, family members and friends, with between 50 and 100 participants each year, he said.

“We certainly welcome anyone to join the walk, anyone interested in supporting friends or family, or strangers in support of their kidney disease journey,” Robbins said.

Both individuals and teams are encouraged to take part.

Ott, who works at the dialysis unit at Bluewater Health in Sarnia, said she and her co-workers have formed a team.

“We’ve raised almost $1,000 already,” she said.

Money raised is used to support patients in Sarnia, she said.

That includes education, peer support, financial assistance, as well as support from the local chapter for patients using the local dialysis unit, Ott said.

Recently, that included putting together comfort kits for dialysis patients with headphones, word searches and other items useful during the procedure, she said.

“I think the next goal is to get TVs for the patients, because our TVs are really old,” Ott said.

Robbins said Sarnia is lucky to have its own dialysis unit with room for up to 57 patients, so they don’t have to travel to London for treatments which are typically three times a week for several hours.

“They spend a large portion of their week strapped to this machine that is exchanging their blood and cleaning it outside their bodies,” he said.

“It’s a rigorous treatment, but like everything else, it’s better than the alternative.”

Robbins said that, along with services for patients and families, the foundation is “one of the primary funders of kidney research in Canada.”

Robbins said one in 10 patients are said to suffer from kidney disease and there are 12,000 patients in Ontario on dialysis.