2011 Boston Kidney Walk

Last Sunday Maura, Jennifer and I walked in the 2011 Boston Kidney Walk at the Franklin Park Zoo. We, or more accurately Team Captain Jennifer, raised $400 for the National Kidney Foundation and we had a very enjoyable visit to the zoo. Thank you to everyone who sponsored us in the walk.

Sunday was a gray, misty day and threatened rain but it held off actually raining until we had finished the three mile walk around the zoo and were returning to our car. On the way we had a nice easy stroll and a fun visit to the zoo. Maura at age eight still gets excited by watching animals and her young-at-heart parents do too. It was a chilly day but warm enough for the animals to be outside, except for the giraffes and the gorillas. The highlights of this visit were the peacocks, the budgies at the Aussie Aviary and the ring tailed lemurs in the Rainforest Pavilion. The peacocks were running loose throughout the zoo and were displaying their gorgeous iridescent tails, though there didn’t seem to be any peahens around to impress. At the Aussie Aviary we purchased a seed stick to feed the budgies and they flew down and perched on Maura’s hands while she fed them. The troop of lemurs has two new additions born at the end of March. The baby lemurs were really cute scrambling on their mother’s back and holding on as she jumped through the branches in their habitat.

More important than having a good time, we did our part to help the National Kidney Foundation help people suffering from kidney disease.  According to the National Kidney Foundation one in nine American adults suffers from chronic kidney disease, though many don’t know it. Many of the sufferers will eventually face kidney failure and a kidney transplant or life on dialysis. Among those with kidney disease are my mother, who has had a kidney transplant, and me, who may someday need one. We walked in honor of my mother, and of my father, who donated her transplanted kidney. I ask that you consider supporting the National Kidney Foundation, perhaps by sponsoring a walker or joining a team in your local Kidney Walk. Chances are you know someone, a family member or a friend perhaps, who also suffers from kidney disease and will thank you personally for your efforts. You have my thanks already.