Salisbury 5k raises awareness for kidney disease

Close to 400 people showed up Sunday to raise awareness for kidney disease as Salisbury held their annual Kidney walk.

Officials said despite the chilly temperatures in the morning the number of participants was up from last year.

The point of the walk, for those to come out and raise awareness for kidney disease, something that affects roughly 26 million American adults.

Over 80 percent of the funds raised will go directly back into the community to help with those affected by kidney disease.

That includes people undergoing dialysis, the treatment that simulates what a healthy kidney would do.

“Dialysis is so prevalent. Somebody that’s on dialysis waiting for a transplant, whose kidneys aren’t functioning, it’s a life that we just don’t want people to have to go through so we want to be there to do what we can to help support them,” Nicole Scharf
senior director of field services for the eastern shore.

Officials say one of the most troubling things about kidney disease is that a majority of people with it don’t even know they have it.

Medical professionals recommend that if you suffer from hypertension, high blood pressure or if you are diabetic, you should get yourself checked for the disease.