Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

By Chad Klassen

KIDNEY WALK

Kamloops Kidney Foundation overwhelmed by generous donation

Aug 19, 2019 | 5:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Kidney Walk is a month away, but on Monday members of the Kamloops Kidney Support Group gathered to accept its largest single donation in history.

The group received a cheque for $5,000 from the South Central branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining. The money will stay local and help patients going through kidney dialysis and other procedures in Kamloops and across the province.

“With patients having to do so much travel when they are in the Interior, both the outlying regions coming into RIH for tests and training and all of that, then to have to spend six to eight weeks in Vancouver if you’re lucky enough to have a transplant, financially it’s huge. A lot of people bankrupt themselves,” said executive director of the Kamloops Kidney Foundation Edna Humphreys.

The donation adds to the $20,000 the Kamloops Kidney Walk raises on average every year. It’s not the first community donation made by the Canadian Institute of Mining, which has donated more than $40,000 to charities in the city.

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“For us, it’s really important to contribute to the local community of Kamloops,” said secretary of the South Central branch of CIM Katherine Ray. “We have a member, his wife is going through the kidney transplant situation, so we’re really happy to be able to donate to somebody that is part of our mining community.”

The affected person is Kamloops resident Julie Dodds, who is in need of a kidney transplant. She’s been waiting since being diagnosed in 2015 with kidney disease, something that runs in her family. She shared a post on Facebook two weeks ago, reaching out to anyone who could be a match. She’s hoping to get one soon.

“It’s stressful because you don’t really know what the future holds,” said Dodds, who has three boys. “Looking for a living donor means you’re putting your life in someone else’s hands. You have to have somebody step forward for you to have the best quality of life. So it’s the uncertainty that’s difficult. I still feel fine at this point, but it’s the question mark that is difficult.”

The kidney walk is at 11:00 a.m. on Sept. 22 at McDonald Park. To register, you can visit the Kamloops Kidney Foundation’s website.