Nutter Fort Kidney Walk raises funds to fight kidney disease

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Nutter Fort Park hosted a Kidney Walk for the benefit of the National Kidney Foundation on Sunday, encouraging people to stay on top of their health.

The Foundation’s mission is to eliminate preventable kidney diseases, encourage innovation, and increase access to treatment. Today’s walk included a raffle, all proceeds of which went to the National Kidney Foundation.

The foundation says that one in three adults in the United States are at risk of kidney disease and that one in seven adults have it, but don’t know it. If left untreated kidney disease can lead to the need for surgery or dialysis.

Director of Transplant Operation and Compliance at WVU Medicine Shelley Zomak was in attendance and explained that one important function of the kidney is to filter blood, stating “When the filter in your kidney doesn’t work that well, neither do you.”

When asked about what people can do to keep their kidneys healthy, Zomak said, “I think the best thing is making sure you’re doing those annual visits with your doctor. You need to have regular health check ups, make sure your blood pressure is good, make sure your blood sugar is good. When they do that bloodwork, they’re always looking at the kidney function as well so that one little blood test can start identifying things early.”

To learn more about the National Kidney Foundation, you can visit www.kidney.org .

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