Five sisters are joining hundreds of others on a monumental journey in support of kidney disease research and awareness for the Kidney Foundation’s annual march.
It’s the ninth year for the event and Cindi Chiasson and her four sisters say it’s a very special time for them because they are doing it in honour of their father.
“It is so silent and it takes you by surprise. Dad was down to 50 percent function when he was diagnosed,” she said.
Her father’s prognosis left her and her sisters with a ‘helpless’ feeling but it also prompted her to check if she could donate one of her kidneys to help him. Luckily she was a match.
“I feel like I love him a lot and I’m really glad he gets to be here with us.”
Chiasson says that donating an organ is not as scary as some people think.
“It is a process that is made much, much easier with the Kidney Foundation.”
Joyce Van Deurzen with the Kidney Foundation says they created the annual march to have a positive impact on the disease and raise money for research.
“The people who do this are amazing. Nobody walks this far for this cause anywhere else in the world, so that’s what brings people here, what keeps them coming back.”
About 400 marchers are registered for the event that including two nights camping in the Foothills.
It’s raised about $6M since it began in 2009.
(With files from Stephanie Wiebe)
