Robert Lorenz has had a decades-long battle with kidney disease.
Lorenz, 59, was first diagnosed when he was 20, and began dialysis as he waited for a donor.
“I was on the dialysis machines for 3 1/2 years, and then I had a transplant (which worked) for 13 years,” he said Sunday at the Sudbury edition of the Kidney Walk, a nation-wide fundraiser held in support of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
The third local edition the event was held at Delki Dozzi.
Lorenz said his transplanted kidney failed more than a decade ago, and much of his life now revolves around trips to hospital for dialysis.
"I go in for five hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” he said. “And every second Saturday, it's another four hours. It's had a huge impact on me. I used to work in the evenings."
His eyesight is failing badly now, but Lorenz said he's on a waiting list for another transplant.
"The longer you're on the (dialysis) machine, I find the more problems you have," he said. "I'm still waiting for a kidney, but there's no match yet."
Lise Giroux has organized the Sudbury walk since the beginning. A dialysis nurse, Giroux said she sees first-hand what patients go through living with the disease.
"I teach the patients who are starting dialysis," she said.
"I see the struggles that dialysis patients go through. There's a lot of fatigue, it affects their heart, their whole system. They have to have a specific diet to survive, because their kidneys can't eliminate the toxins normal food produces when you eat it."
And as a cancer survivor, Giroux said she was inspired to help. More than 1,100 people are on a waiting list right now for a kidney transplant in Ontario, she said, including Lorenz. And one in 10 people will battle the disease in their lifetime.
"After going through that five years ago, I wanted to do something to help other people, because I got a second chance in life," she said.
The leading causes of kidney disease are hypertension and diabetes, Giroux said. Getting the word out about healthy lifestyles can help people prevent the disease from affecting them.
"It's important to the Kidney Foundation, not only to provide an opportunity to raise awareness and fundraising, but they also provide an opportunity for the kidney community to gather,” she said. “Transplant patients, dialysis patients, family, friends and medical professionals join together with the collective goal to help create a better future for those living with kidney disease."
This year's walk raised more than $1,600 as of Sunday morning, with more to come. The money will be used for the Kidney Foundation programs.
For example, every kidney patient in Canada receives a living with kidney disease handbook, which includes information on treatment options, diet and lifestyle changes.
Kidney foundation also has an online risk assessment tool that helps people determine whether they are at risk of kidney disease,
