Wife donor, husband recipient take part in Barrie Kidney Walk

Around 50 people participated in Sunday's annual Kidney Walk in Barrie to raise awareness and funds for kidney health, including a wife who donated a kidney to her husband.

Kidney disease runs in Penetanguishene resident Mike Crake's family. In 2016, Mike found out he needed a transplant.

"It was sad. Nothing but diets, what I shouldn't eat, it was crazy," he recalled. "Every other month, we'd do blood tests and everything to make sure [my] numbers are good."

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Luckily, Mike's wife Wendy generously donated her kidney when he needed it most, significantly improving his quality of life.

"More energy than I ever had. I feel like a kid again," admitted Mike. "She's from one part of the world, and I'm from this part of the world. It's just freaky that it matched so well."

Mike was born in Canada, while Wendy was born in Germany. The two have been married for 33 years and underwent their respective procedures through Toronto's University Health Network (UHN).

"I walked in on a Tuesday and walked out on a Friday, and a week later, I was walking back to my 12 kilometres a day," recalled Wendy.

"It was like a carwash for them," added Mike, explaining his experience. "In and out in four days."

On Sunday, Mike and Wendy walked together in the Barrie Kidney Walk for the first time, one of 29 annual walks across the province held by the Ontario branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

The Kidney Walk has been taking place in Barrie for the last decade. Organizers hoped to raise $8,000 in support of research, education programs and services to benefit those living with kidney disease in Simcoe County.

"The incidence of kidney disease is certainly on the rise," said Daniela Piotrowsky, a director from the Kidney Foundation of Canada's Ontario branch. "1 in 10 Canadians currently live with kidney disease, and many more are at risk. Most people aren't aware that they have kidney disease until it progresses."

Piotrowsky adds that the proceeds will fund research to improve dialysis techniques and transplantation medicines.

The Kidney Foundation of Canada is also celebrating its 60th anniversary, which Piotrowsky hopes will be one of the final significant milestones that the organization celebrates.

"Right now, there isn't a cure," she stated. "Both dialysis and transplantation are good options, but ultimately, we do want to find a cure for kidney disease."

While Mike and Wendy participated in Barrie's walk, one of their kids will participate in the Mississauga walk, and the other will participate in the Ottawa walk. Wendy strongly encourages anyone who can become a donor to consider becoming one.

"We would do it again in a heartbeat," she said. "when you go through the process of being tested, the really cool part is that it's so thorough that even if there's something wrong with you that you didn't even realize, it's detected. So you may have saved your own life as well as saving somebody else's."