Residents of Chatham-Kent are being given the chance to help the nearly 10 per cent of Canadians currently living with kidney failure.
For the eighth year in a row, the Kidney Walk will be hitting the streets of Chatham this fall. The walk is organized by The Kidney Foundation of Canada. According to the foundation's fund development officer, Erika Muscat, money raised goes towards helping those living with kidney disease.
"Some of the services we offer are a living with kidney disease manual, our peer support program and subsidies for Camp Dorset, which is a dialysis camp up north. We also provide short term financial assistance as well as resource and information," Muscat said.
Kidney disease is chronic and currently has no cure. Those living with it have to go on dialysis, a life-sustaining medical procedure that removes excess water and toxins from the blood. Muscat said the treatment oftentimes brings a great deal of stress to a person's lifestyle.
"Different patients have different experiences where it can be very draining and often times a patient is not able to work while they're on dialysis because of the fatigue that it causes them and the fact that they have to be on dialysis for about 15 hours a week," she explained.
Chatham-Kent's walk will be one of 35 kidney walks happening across Ontario in September. The goal is to raise $10,000 locally and Muscat said the event has consistently grown over the years and awareness about kidney disease continues to spread.
"It's definitely getting more popular," she said. "The first two years we kind of struggled in Chatham-Kent to get it going and getting a lot of people aware but it's definitely growing in popularity. People are finding out about the event and wanting to participate."
The walk takes place the morning of September 15 at Kingston Park in Chatham. Click here to get more information or to register.
