Beth Connor had more than a little help from friends to raise $1,550 for Sunday’s Kidney Walk in Barrie.
Her late husband Gerry’s friends chipped in to help reach that total.
“A lot of his (Gerry’s) friends, when I put out the call that I was going to do it, everybody just jumped right in and sponsored me,” said the Orillia woman. “It was wonderful. People immediately connected with it.”
As many as 35 people participated in Sunday’s Kidney Walk, which began at St. Vincent Park on Blake Street and had both two and five kilometre routes for walkers.
Daniela Piotrowski, who’s with the local Kidney Foundation, said it was the first in-person walk in three years because of COVID-19. The goal was to raise $5,000, but she said it will be near $7,000. The money goes to kidney disease research, along with patient programs and services.
“It (kidney disease) is with you for life,” she said. “Transplants and dialysis are not the cure. There is no cure. This walk honours the patients who can’t walk, and who can’t come out to the event.”
Connor said she and Gerry had retired and lived just north of Port Severn.
“He had kidney disease, he was on dialysis for a year and we did home dialysis, so that was a huge learning curve to understand how to do that,” she said. “We got to stay at our lake house for a year, and then we decided we should get closer to Soldiers' (Memorial Hospital in Orillia), because that’s where his kidney care providers were.
“So we moved in the first part of August, last year. Then unfortunately he passed away on Aug. 14,” said Connor. “He got an infection and he couldn’t kick it.
“That’s why I’m walking in the Kidney Walk.”
She said she loves Orillia, that it’s wonderful.
“I thought maybe Orillia had one (a Kidney Walk) and then I found out that Barrie is the one that’s doing it for Simcoe (County),” she said.
“So my sister (Jennifer) from Chicago and her brother-in-law (Nathan) decided to join me this weekend.”
Jennifer Petterson raised $750 for the local Kidney Walk.
The Kidney Foundation’s Ontario branch says statistics show one in 10 Canadians has kidney disease and millions more are at risk.
More than 12,000 Ontarians depend on life-sustaining dialysis treatments several times a week and many of those are waiting for a kidney transplant.
A diagnosis of kidney disease changes lives and affects the entire family. For some, it means losing hours of the week to dialysis, which affects opportunities to work, travel or spend time with loved ones.
The need for support continues to be great, as individuals living with kidney disease continue to face emotional, financial and physical challenges.
Ontario’s goal for this year Kidney Walk is $700,000, said Piotrowski.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall and Doug Downey, Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP, attended Sunday’s Kidney Walk.
For more information visit www.kidneywalk.ca.
