By LeRae HAYNES
and Gaeil FARRAR
The Williams Lake Kidney Walk raised $27,000 – $21,706 of which was raised by Team Nash alone – for the Kidney Foundation of BC.
“It was amazing,” said Fallon Overton, mother of 10-year-old Nash Overton, who battles with kidney disease and is the inspiration for Team Nash fundraising, which is currently top in the province.
“Lots of people participated in the walk, even more people than last year,” said Fallon Monday.
There was a stellar turnout and a very positive response from the community for the event held in Boitanio Park Sunday morning.
Jamie Macdonald organized the event for the second year in a row.
“Kidney disease does run in my family but the major reason this matters to me is because it impacts so many people,” she said of why she organized the event. “I just wanted to get involved in something to help make a difference.”
Darrick Boyes was the emcee for the walk, and Tim Johnson from City Recreation was there to provide an enthusiastic warm-up for the participants. Other volunteers included Norma Macdonald, Oliver Hitch, Danielle Taylor, Elaine Currie, Anne Barrie and Kimberly Smith. There was also a silent auction and refreshments.
Participants get involved with the walk for a variety of reasons, including for loved ones living with kidney disease, or out of profound gratitude for a donation that saved their life. One woman fundraised and joined the walk because she chose to donate a kidney to a complete stranger, and found that it changed her life forever.
This was the second time that Val Nickless from 108 Mile Ranch has come to Williams Lake to do the walk.
“I’m a kidney donor,” she said. “I’m passionate about it, and like to spread the word.”
In November, it will be two years since she donated her kidney. In a thank you letter to her, the man who received her kidney in 2015 said that he had had kidney disease for 18 years when he got the transplant, and although overall, he was a healthy person, he was a week away from dialysis.
“I definitely feel that I want to further the cause of organ donation, and how important it is. It’s my way to give back,” she continued.
“I’d see a story on the news about it, where someone was in desperate need of a donation, and it just kept coming back to me, over several years, that I should look into it. It was May 2014 that I made the call to start the process. It took about 18 months from then until I made the donation.”
She was part of a paired kidney exchange.
“They matched me up with someone who needed a kidney, on a chain. It launched the chain, where four or five kidneys were donated and transplanted that day. The single kidney at the end of the chain went to the waiting list,” she noted.
“You have two people – one needs a kidney and one wants to donate. Let’s say the donor is not compatible. We register as a pair. I donate to someone else, and their ‘pair’ donates to my ‘pair.’ It creates a chain.”
She said she had about a month’s notice that they had a chain put together. The transplants took place in Edmonton.
“It was the most powerful, life-changing experience I’ve ever had, that made a difference. It just felt right,” she concluded. “I’ve never regretted it, and only wish I had an extra kidney so I could do it all over again.”
Unfortunately for the Overton family their battle with kidney disease isn’t over. Fallon said Nash suffered a relapse this week and had to go back on the steroid prednisone Tuesday morning.
Nash suffers with an autoimmune kidney disorder called nephrotic syndrome in which the kidneys leak the blood protein called albumin.
After a relapse last year Nash was treated over the winter with an alternate drug called rituximab and infusions of albumin which put his disorder into remission for about five months starting in May.
He has lived with ongoing rounds of treatment to keep the disorder under control.
She said the group picture taken of all the people participating in the walk Sunday was very precious to her.
At the moment, she said the $21,706 in donations dedicated in the name of Team Nash puts the team in the top spot for fundraising in B.C. and Nash as the top individual fundraiser in the province.
“We are so incredibly thankful to every single person who donated this year,” Fallon said. “We know that the Kidney Foundation will do great things with this money raised. Year after year, we are moved to tears by the generosity of our families, our friends and this amazing small town of Williams Lake. Thank you from the absolute bottom of our hearts.”
For more information about becoming a donor, or the Kidney Foundation of BC visit www.kidney.ca/bc-home.
