Annual 5K at Lower.com Field brings awareness to kidney disease

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Lower.com Field was packed on Sunday morning but it wasn’t for the Columbus Crew. The National Kidney Foundation hosted its 15th annual Central Ohio Kidney Walk aiming to bring awareness to kidney disease.

“It’s the 9th leading cause of death in Ohio so it’s a really great way to raise advocacy and bring a community together for something that’s kind of scary and a little lonesome sometimes,” said Megan Haggerty, the development coordinator of National Kidney Foundation of Central Ohio.

Haggerty said that most of the money raised from the walk stays local to central Ohio. The funds go towards helping people get treated and supported early, funding research and educating the community.

WATCH: Community gathers for 5K at Crew's stadium

“I really hope that talking to others and sharing our stories will get the word out that we need living donors,” said Perry Hall, the senior development coordinator of National Kidney Foundation of Cincinnati.

Chris Artinian is living proof of how important kidney donations are. He went through kidney failure and went through dialysis for a year but his son was able to donate his kidney. “Living donors have a much higher success rate. So I was really lucky and the statistics on kidney failure and dialysis are horrible so to know that I’ve been so fortunate, to have a living donor my son Joey means a lot,” said Artinian.

The event also stressed the importance of catching kidney disease early. There were several booths for participants to receive health tests and get blood work done. “We know that there are health disparities and because Columbus has such a diverse population we want to make sure that people from all over are being aware of what’s going on in their body,” said Haggerty.

You can learn more about the National Kidney Foundation’s mission and see how much the walk raised here.