Walk to End PKD at Centennial Park in DDO
Posted September 17, 2023 4:17 pm.
Last Updated September 17, 2023 6:59 pm.
Patients and loved ones of those living with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) walked to raise awareness and research funds for the genetic disease Sunday.
Montrealers gathered at Centennial Park in Dollard-Des-Ormeaux for the Walk to End PKD – the PKD Foundation of Canada’s signature fundraising event.
“It’s a disease that’s not well known,” said Luisa Miniaci-Di Leo, the Montreal coordinator of the PKD Foundation. “By raising awareness of this, by having this walk, it encourages people. It gives us hope. It gives everybody hope.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to have all these people’s support.”
Walk to End PKD in Dollard-Des-Ormeaux Sept. 17, 2023. (Diona Macalinga, CityNews)
According to the PKD Foundation of Canada, one in every 500 Canadians are affected by the disease, making PKD one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases.
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Dr. Marie Trudel of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute is one of the world’s leading researchers on PKD. Over 30 years, her laboratory has been working to identify the cause of this genetic disease and find a way to block the development of cysts in the kidney.
Trudel says Sunday’s walk provides support the research needs to one day find a cure.
“It has been kind of in the back burner compared to other diseases,” said Trudel.
“More people are aware, more people will try to find a cure.”
Many living with the life-threatening disease rely on dialysis treatments, even kidney transplants, to live a healthy life.
A common symptom of PKD – high blood pressure – is what Marc Ferrazzano has been living with since his 20s. One kind stranger, Samantha Parasuco, decided to donate her kidney to him after reading a Facebook post about his experience living with PKD.
Ferrazzano and Parasuco both attended Sunday’s walk.
“I knew it was going to be difficult for him to find a donor,” said Parasuco. “I said ‘OK.’ He was a dad of two and I imagined it’s my father and I would do it for my father. So, why not someone else’s dad?
“Now we’re friends so we’re hanging out.”
