Triangle Kidney Walk raises thousandsBy: Jessica Cervantez
DURHAM – Some North Carolinians spent Saturday morning walking for awareness in hopes of finding a cure for kidney disease.
But for one Greensboro family it was about more than a walk. It was a day to honor a loved one.
Vicki Christopher and her son, Jeremy Cid, made the trip to the Research Triangle Park Headquarters early Saturday morning. One year ago Christopher’s daughter, Heather, lost her life to kidney disease.
She was diagnosed with kidney disease at 13 months old. She had two transplants in her lifetime – one from her mother – and she spent years on dialysis.
“She wouldn't accept anything other than a normal life,” Cid said. “She really inspired everybody around her to be a better person.”
Thousands suffer from kidney disease. According to the National Kidney Foundation, one in nine Americans lives with kidney disease.
“There's over 100,000 people on the waiting list waiting for an organ, of which 60 percent are waiting for a kidney. So it's really a scary statistic,” Carina Montanari, spokesperson for the National Kidney Foundation of North Carolina, said.
And Christopher said she knows exactly how that feels.
“The shortage for donors is just unbelievable. We had to wait three and a half years,” Christopher said.
And to Heather’s family that seems like a lifetime.
They make it through each day with the motto on the shirts they wore to the walk: "When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.”
“She made more of an impact in her 27 years than most people do in a lifetime,” Christopher said.
Saturday’s Kidney Walk raised $86,000.
http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/triangle/606994/triangle-kidney-walk-raises-thousands/Default.aspxYou can see the photos on AlohaBeth's thread
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=12050.0
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