Why I Walk

I walk because too many families (like mine) are coping with this devastating chronic illness, and thousands more will face an unexpected kidney disease diagnosis in the year to come.

I walk for my Mom, Maureen Ferguson, and my Aunt, Kathleen Bugel. I walk because, as my Aunt constantly says, my Mom saved her life, and we are all thankful every single day. My Aunt was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease in 2011 and lived with it and managed it for 4 years before she was told she would need a transplant. There was no history of kidney disease in our extended family so her diagnosis was a shock to us all. All her siblings, including my Mom decided to go through testing to become a living donor. Mom went through testing under the watchful guidance of her donor advocate and a few weeks after testing she got the call we all had been hoping for, Mom was a match for Aunt Kathy! The transplant was completed on January 13, 2015. Mom was home the next day, and Aunt Kathy was home later that week. To date, they are both kidney healthy and happy. Mom and Aunt Kathy both got involved with the National Kidney Foundation through the committee for the Annual Kidney Gala and we as a family have participated in the Kidney Walk for years. My mom says of the experience, “All of our lives were affected by my sister’s diagnosis, but through our involvement with the Kidney Foundation it’s been a positive experience. People ask me all the time if I would still donate having gone through the process and I always reply – no question, without a doubt!”

I got the chance to become even more personally involved with the National Kidney Foundation starting in 2019. I started working as an intern for the foundation, and I have gotten the chance to see behind the scenes of every event, the amount of work every single one of these amazing women put in, and how much it helps so many in the community. I have had the great privilege to be on both sides of the Kidney Foundation, being someone they helped, and being able to help them continue and further their mission.

I walk because Mom and Aunt Kathy, the women who raised me, have gone through something that not many can imagine. I walk because all my life I have been surrounded by remarkable women. Mom and Aunt Kathy are the most important and inspirational ladies in my life. They have shown me what unwavering love, hope and strength is, and I can only hope to instill that same inspiration in someone else. I walk because they inspire me, and I walk because I want to inspire someone else. 

Are you with me?

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