AWARENESS

31 Days of PKD

We are almost half-way through March and our "31 Days of PKD" social media posts, in honour of kidney health month. Enjoy the stories and information designed to educate and raise awareness about PKD, reduce the stigma of PKD, empower people affected by PKD to share their experiences and express their needs, and build supportive communities of caring and advocacy for everyone affected by PKD.

Watch for our posts on social media, or check out the monthly calendar of activities on our website.

Use and search for the hashtags #31DaysOfPKD, #KidneyMonth and #endPKD to feel the PKD love!

Voices of PKD

"My name is Karen, and this story is about my journey with polycystic kidney disease (PKD). I was diagnosed at the age of 18. I knew it was a condition that not only threatened my own health, but also had the potential to be passed on to my children. This disease has been in my family for generations."

Karen had a living donor kidney transplant in 2023, as part of the Kidney Paired Donation program. She recently shared her transplant story with us during our February webinar about the KPD program, which is now available to watch on our YouTube channel.

Karen has now shared her story in our Voices of PKD series. You can read her story here.

SUPPORT

Make it Monthly

Monthly donations are a great way to make a big impact and help us achieve our goals for the year. With your help, we can continue our work to promote programs of research, advocacy, education, support and awareness in order to discover treatments and a cure for polycystic kidney disease, and improve the lives of all it affects. 

And for a limited time, we can help increase the impact of your gift!

Throughout March, create a new monthly gift of $20 or more in support of our charity through CanadaHelps, and CanadaHelps will make a one-time extra $20 donation to our charity!* You can read more about the full terms and conditions here.

Please consider creating a new monthly gift of $20 or more through CanadaHelps to support our charity. Your donation will help us achieve our goals and make a big impact. Thank you for your support!

Yes, I want to make a monthly gift!

*Make It Monthly 2024 is a bonus donation program where CanadaHelps will donate to a participating charity an additional $20 for each new monthly donation of $20 or more, and CanadaHelps will donate an additional $10 for existing monthly donations that are increased by $10 or more beginning March 1st, 2024 at 12:01 AM Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) to March 31st, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) to a maximum aggregate amount of donations from CanadaHelps to all participating charities of $50,000 CAD. Read the full terms and conditions here.

Walk to END PKD

Our plans for this year's Walk to END PKD events are well underway, with most of our Walk locations scheduled! Save the date for these cities:

Sept 8 - Fairbanks Centre (Outdoor Space), Dartmouth NS

Sept 14 - Bowness Park (Picnic site 2), Calgary AB

Sept 15 - Andrew Haydon Park (Green Gazebo), Ottawa ON

Sept 21 - Riverside Pavillion, Guelph ON

Sept 22 - Centennial Park, Dollard-Des Ormeaux (Montreal) QC

Sept 22 - Stanley Park (Second Beach Picnic Area), Vancouver BC

Sept 29 - Centennial Park, Toronto

We're also looking for passionate volunteers for roles like Walk Coordinator, Event Crew Members, and Fundraising Committee Members. 

Let's make memories, forge connections, and work towards a future where no-one has to experience the full effects of PKD. Interested in volunteering? Contact us here, and let's make this year's walk unforgettable!

LEARN

Kidney Nutrition

Have you ever wondered how to make a recipe more kidney-friendly? Look no further; we’ve got you covered. In this month’s blog, registered dietitian Emily Campbell reviews how to modify recipes for polycystic kidney disease and kidney health. 

Additionally, join Emily live on Wednesday, March 20 at 7:00pm EST for our free March nutrition webinar, which features an interactive cooking demonstration, and nutrition information for PKD. 

Webinars

Speaking of kidney-friendly nutrition, we're excited about two new FREE nutrition and PKD webinars that we have scheduled for March - one in each official language!

For our English webinar, on March 20th at 7pm EDT, registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator Emily Campbell will be celebrating nutrition month with a cooking demonstration and live webinar for people dealing with PKD. Emily will share a recipe from the new PKD-focused Love Your Kidneys cookbook, which is being released later this month!

Register here for the English webinar!

Our French webinar on March 26 at 7pm EDT will feature registered dietician Roxanne Papineau, who will be talking about the importance of adopting a kidney-friendly diet to maintain renal function in people with PKD. She explains which diet to adopt according to the different stages of PKD and how to find the foods that correspond to your needs.

Register here for the French webinar!

Then on April 10 at 7pm EDT, we will be having a patient webinar on the topic of managing your mental health when you have PKD. Led by Dr. Adriana Carvalhal, a psychiatrist at Scarborough Health Network, this session is about handling the emotional ups and downs of chronic illness. Learn how to deal with stress, anxiety, and feeling down while living with PKD. Get the knowledge and tools to feel better and improve your life on this journey.

Register here for the mental health webinar!

Now on YouTube!

If you missed our February webinar on the topic of the Kidney Paired Donation program, it's now available on our YouTube channel! Watch it here.

PKD conversations

We're proud to share some new resources created especially for our PKD community, on the topic of having meaningful conversations with your loved ones about PKD.

Having a conversation with your adult children about your PKD diagnosis

Planning a family conversation about PKD

Event survey

We'd love to hear your thoughts about the kinds of learning or social events you'd like us to offer to our Canadian PKD community. Tell us what you'd like in this short 1-minute survey!