By Eraina Hooyer
Staff Reporter
A local woman and her family will be helping give the gift of life by participating in a walk hosted by the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Marilyn (Mary) Schultz, along with her daughter, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren will be walking in the second annual Give the Gift of Life Fun Run and Walk in Red Deer on Sept. 7 to help raise awareness and funds to benefit the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
The four-generation group will trek their way through Mackenzie Trails in the river valley in Red Deer aiming for the five-kilometer goal.
Shultz, 76 years young, knows the importance of supporting the foundation firsthand.
“I am a dialysis patient and the work that is done is lifesaving, without it you don’t live,” said Shultz. “There are over 800 people in Alberta that are on kidney dialysis and our lives depend on it.”
The family group is calling themselves ‘Mary’s Marchers’, a suggestion that came from Shultz’s five year-old great-grandson Ben Townell.
Shultz has been physically and mentally preparing herself for the long walk and is looking forward to the event.
“It’s a beautiful and scenic place to walk and it will be a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s meant to be otherwise it wouldn’t be called the Fun Run or Walk.”
Since Shultz decided to participate in the walk she has felt fully backed by her community, family and friends and believes that will be a driving force to keep her going.
“The support that I have had already has been wonderful,” she said. “I’m amazed and am glad I can be a part of this because the need is there.”
There are approximately two million Canadians that have kidney disease or are at risk according to the Kidney Foundation of Canada 2008 facts.
Each day 14 Canadians learn that their kidneys have failed and if left untreated people can die within days or weeks.
The three leading causes of kidney failure in first time patients are diabetes with 35 per cent, renal vascular disease, 19.5 per cent and Glomerulonephritis, inflammation of the kidney’s blood cleaning filters, 11.5 per cent.
In 2006 of the 4,240 Canadians on the waiting list for a transplant, 3,075 were waiting for a kidney transplant.
Support can be given to individuals via their online website at www.kidney.ab.ca and scrolling down to the event link.
Shultz is one of the many that will be joining in this cause to better the future of kidney disease and will be walking with her family behind her every step of the way.