(The Kidney Foundation of Canada)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

research and organ donation

Kidney Walk goes Saturday at Bower Ponds as 4 million Canadians affected

Sep 15, 2023 | 4:46 PM

The annual Red Deer Kidney Walk is taking place Saturday, Sept. 16 at Bower Ponds.

Registration is at 10 with the walk at 11. You can register here.

The Kidney Walk is done all in the name of research for kidney disease, and of course The Kidney Foundation.

The honorary chair for the Red Deer walk this year is Patsy Dawe, who’s walking in honour of her late brother-in-law Jim.

Jim passed away in October 2021 after being diagnosed with kidney failure earlier that year.

mayor hopes to meet housing minister this month

Alberta demands Ottawa back off on housing funding stripped from Red Deer

Apr 02, 2026

Last seen Jan. 15

Missing: Courtney Cattleman, 17, of Maskwacis

Apr 02, 2026

eyes up

Air Spray training around Red Deer Regional Airport

Apr 02, 2026

On the Red Deer Kidney Walk page, Patsy is quoted, describing a difficult decision she had to make after Jim’s death.

“Do I stop my testing and go back to my life, or do I continue and give another person the chance of not having to do dialysis anymore? I was almost finished with my testing and had one final scan to take, then I would be ready to donate” she said.

“I discussed this with my husband and weighed all the options, and surprisingly it was an easy decision to make. I work in the hospital as a clerk in a surgical unit, and I know what the process would be for the surgery. I also know we get patients needing dialysis and how their lives are changed forever by doing it three times a week.”

Dawe donated in May 2022, later finding out that the kidney she’d donated was functioning properly inside its recipient.

The Kidney Foundation, which started in 1964, notes 77 per cent of the 4,000+ Canadians on the waitlist for an organ donation are awaiting a kidney.

The five‐year survival rate for adults with transplanted kidneys from living donors is 90 per cent, and 82 per cent from deceased donors.

The Kidney Foundation has raised more than $124 million for research grants and awards.

In the early 1960s, dialysis centres were scarce, with treatments taking eight to 10 hours per day, the foundation notes on its website.

Treatments nowadays take about half that time with many more centres for treatment across the country.

According to the Kidney Foundation, four million, or 1-in-10, Canadians have kidney disease, with 46 per cent of new patients being under the age of 65.

It also notes that symptoms may not occur until permanent damage has occurred.

(with files from The Kidney Foundation)