To celebrate World Kidney Day on Thursday, the Prince George Chapter of the Kidney Foundation will have an information table at Pine Centre Mall near the food court from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to help raise awareness of the disease.
The highlight of the day-long event will be the walk, which starts at 1 p.m. and will go throughout the mall where participants will have placards announcing World Kidney Day in the hope of encouraging people to become organ donors.
"There will be millions of people in over 100 countries participating in World Kidney Day all to raise awareness of kidney disease and this year's theme is Let's Take the Kid out of Kidney Disease," said Paul Duperron, member of the Prince George Chapter of the Kidney Foundation.
All children in the province who have kidney disease must be treated at BC Children's Hospital because they need the specialized care of a child nephrologist, said Duperron.
"During World Kidney Day from 10:30 to 2 p.m. we'll be doing blood pressure readings and blood glucose readings because high blood pressure and diabetes are two main causes of kidney disease," said Duperron.
"We welcome the people of Prince George to come out and join us all day and to join us during the walk."
The local chapter will also have an information booth at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. all day Thursday as well.
During the March Drive the Kidney Foundation does a door-to-door fundraising campaign and Duperron asks residents to please give generously.
Because kidney disease most often does not exhibit symptoms until kidneys fail, it's important for Canadians to register to be organ donors upon their deaths.
At the end of 2014 there were 16,478 British Columbians who were diagnosed with end-of-stage kidney disease and all would benefit from a kidney transplant, according to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, BC & Yukon Branch fact sheet.
There were 105 people in Prince George on dialysis, 3,500 in British Columbia and almost 50 per cent of them don't live past five years.
In Canada British Columbians wait the longest for a kidney transplant - an average 4.8 years and between 30 and 40 per cent will never get the kidney they need.
To become an organ donor visit transplant.bc.ca.
