Kidney Walk to call attention to organ donors

Caroline McKay wants people to know kidney donation changes lives, but it won’t impact the day-to-day life of a donor.
“Even three years later you can’t tell that I’m functioning with one kidney,” she says.
There is very thorough testing performed on potential donors and a healthy donor should experience a relatively quick recovery and continue regular activities with no side effects from the surgery.
“The only potential downfall for me would be the rare case that one of my family members would need a kidney, I wouldn’t have one to donate,” explains McKay.
McKay generously donated her kidney to a high-school classmate, Danny Bonner, whose sole kidney was failing.
At their 20-year reunion, his classmates held a silent auction to raise money for his medical costs, and awareness of his condition. Bonner had been on dialysis every other day for years, his health deteriorating.
All of his family members and his girlfriend were unable to donate due to age, health problems, or incompatibility. The two were not close in high school, but that did not matter to McKay. She just wanted to help.
She approached him after the silent auction at the reunion and told him her intentions. She knew at that point that she was the same blood type, but still needed to go through further physical tests.
“When people come forward to help you like that, it’s hard to describe the feeling,” said Bonner.
“When someone is willing to give up a part of their body to help you…it’s like a miracle.”
Following the surgery, McKay needed to avoid heavy lifting for a few months, a minor setback as a server at Applebee’s and a house-painter.
McKay is leading a team, “Givers of Hope,” in the upcoming kidney walk in Geneseo for the National Kidney Foundation. So far she has raised $1,000, 80 percent of her initial goal.
She is interested in becoming more active in raising awareness of kidney disease and organ donation. According to the National Kidney Foundation, one in nine people in the Livingston County area has chronic kidney disease and there are 400 people on the kidney transplant waiting list at Strong Memorial Hospital.
Proceeds from the kidney walk provide funding for free kidney check-ups, kidney health classes, Kidney Kinship patient support programs, professional medical programs, kidney transplant options, and local research grants. Take Care of Your Kidneys So They Can Take Care of You.

This is only the second year that a kidney walk is being held in Geneseo, to be held Friday, March 26 at SUNY Geneseo in the Wilson Ice Arena. Registration begins at 6 p.m. and the walk begins at 7 p.m.
The walk last year raised nearly $20,000 and with 21 teams already registered this year, the local NKF chapter hopes to raise $25,000, according to Special Events Manager Michelle Castrogiovanni.
For more information on how to participate or to donate, visit donate.kidney.org or call Michelle at 697-0874, ext. 30.