Taran and Tina Kovacs (Supplied)

By Sheldon Spackman

Raising Money And Awareness

Annual Kidney March has special meaning for Innisfail family

Sep 10, 2021 | 4:39 PM

An Innisfail mother and her son are among hundreds of Canadians walking long distances this weekend to help raise money and awareness for the annual Kidney March.

Tina Kovacs has participated since 2011 and marches for her 25-year-old son Taran – the recipient of a kidney his mother gave him.

“I donated a kidney to him 2010,” recalls Kovacs. “He had kidney failure when he was nine, so in 2005 he just got sick. I just want to have a future for my son or anybody else that has kidney failure.”

Kovacs says the people you walk with each year become part of the family, noting Taran has also been involved in the march for many years.

“He was most famous for driving the golf carts around the camp, so everybody kind of knew him from transporting everybody from the golf carts,” laughs Kovacs.

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This year’s march, however, is a virtual format and broken into two parts. In part one, participants will walk 70 km of their 100 km requirement between Aug. 9 and Sept. 9. In part two, the event’s final weekend, participants will walk a minimum of 10 km per day for three days to complete the final 30 km.

Event officials say there will be virtual opening and closing ceremonies, along with nightly inspiration and virtual entertainment. Participants receive special packages for different stages of the event.

“I’m walking with a friend of mine that I met at Kidney March, so on Friday we’re walking in Red Deer. We’re doing Bower Ponds, walking up to Heritage Ranch and walking back to Bower Ponds, which is exactly 10 kilometres,” shares Kovacs. “On Saturday, we’re looking at doing 10 km in Sylvan Lake and then our final 10 km on Sunday in Innisfail.”

Participants are also asked to raise $2,200 each, but Kovacs admits she’s still trying to achieve that goal.

“I still have a ways to go but people are slowly starting to log into my account at kidneymarch.ca. You just log into that and find the person that you want to sponsor,” she explains. “I’m doing a garage sale fundraiser the week after, so we still can do fundraising after we do the Kidney March.”

Kovacs says kidney disease is more prevalent than most people realize, suggesting some might not even know they have it.

“We didn’t even think of it either until Taran got sick, and with him it was rapid” says Kovacs. “His kidneys failed within a month. So he went from a very healthy child to someone who was all of a sudden not able to do anything.”

According to statistics, in many cases, the signs of kidney disease go unnoticed until the kidneys are close to failure. The Kidney Foundation promotes kidney health to help raise awareness about the warning signs and risk factors associated with kidney disease to encourage early detection.

Out-of-pocket costs for kidney disease treatment are also reported to be 12.5 per cent of a patient or family’s income, with 1-in-10 Canadians having kidney disease – the 10^th leading cause of death in Canada.

To date, Kidney March has raised over $9.5 million to help change the lives of kidney patients and their families since 2010.