Photo courtesy of Lacey Updegraff.
The annual Birmingham Kidney Walk raises money for the Alabama Kidney Foundation to provide education and services to kidney patients.
The Alabama Kidney Foundation is holding its annual fundraising event later this month.
The Birmingham Kidney Walk will be held on April 30 at the Samford University track and soccer complex, with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. and the walk at 9:30.
Lacey Updegraff, the Foundation’s Central Alabama regional director, said this year’s chairperson for the walk is Jim Cooper, the president of Cooper Construction. There are also two patient chairs: Roderick Wilkins, UAB’s police captain, and Walker Greenhalgh.
Walker is just over a year old and was diagnosed with failing kidneys while still in utero. Initially, he was not expected to live past his first few days, but he has defied the expectations of his doctors and parents Adam and Kitty Greenhalgh. At some point in his future, Walker will need a kidney transplant.
One of the participants in the Kidney Walk will be 41-year-old Stephen Dabney, who has experienced a decline in kidney function over the last seven years. Dabney has been a regular sight at the Exceptional Foundation since it initially opened, where he plays basketball and enjoys time with his friends.
Dabney used to compete at the Special Olympics and play on traveling teams in sports including basketball, bowling, volleyball, softball, golf, tennis and weightlifting. However, he is no longer able to travel or play as frequently now that he has dialysis three times per week.
Dabney has been on the kidney transplant lists at UAB, Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Piedmont University in Atlanta for four years. So far, they have not found a healthy and compatible donor for him among friends and family.
“We just want life to get back to normal for him,” said his mother, Lorraine Dabney.
“With Stephen, social is everything. Interacting with people is his game and it’s curtailed that,” agreed his father, Al Dabney. “It’s limited his life.”
All three Dabneys will be at the Kidney Walk to support the Foundation’s mission. They continue to hope that with all the friends Stephen has made over his years in the community, the right donor will be found.
According to Martha Tankersley, UAB’s transplant administrator, about 3,000 people in Alabama are waiting for a kidney transplant. UAB performs between 80 and 120 living donor transplants per year, and the average wait time is between three and five years.
Patients on the list are prioritized by age, health situation and the length of time they’ve been on dialysis, Tankersley said. Transplant recipients must also have compatible blood and tissue tests with their donor.
The minimum donation to participate in the Kidney Walk is $30, but the Foundation is asking walkers to raise more to help them reach their goal of $185,000. The proceeds will go toward the Foundation’s education, financial support and other services for Alabama kidney patients.
Participants in the Kidney Walk will be given breakfast, lunch, snacks and access to the day’s activities. They can choose to walk one lap of the track or the full five miles. Kidney patients and their families can attend for free.
For more information, visit birminghamkidneywalk.org.
Birmingham Kidney Walk
- WHERE: Samford University Track and Soccer Stadium
- WHEN: April 30, 9:30 a.m.
- WHAT: Fundraising goal of $185,000
- WEB: birminghamkidneywalk.org
