Courtesy of Tanya Work (Tanya is shown in the middle holding the sign, her mother is on the right.)

By Veronica Beltran

Kidney march BBQ fundraiser

“A part of her is still alive,” BBQ fundraiser for 10th Kidney March

Jul 23, 2019 | 2:35 PM

PRINCE GEORGE– Tanya Work has been a participant of the Kidney March, a walk to raise awareness for Kidney Disease for the past 7 years and says her mom was her inspiration to start.

Her mother, Faye was diagnosed with Kidney Disease when Work was a child. She says as a kid she remembers her mom always being tired, a side effect from the disease. When a transplant was needed, family members were quick to get tested for a match, and before they knew it, one was found.

Work’s aunt, Denise was was the perfect match for a transplant, and being in completely good health it was a no brainer for her to donate her kidney to her sister in-law. Doctors gave the green light for a transplant and a surgery was scheduled.

Alan Work and Tanya Work. Alan was married to Denise and will be walking the 100 km, three day journey in Alberta this year to raise awareness about kidney disease.

It’s been 18 years since, and Denise’s donation is still working well in Faye’s body. However during that time there was a sad turn of events when Denise fell ill to cancer and died around ten years after donating her kidney. Due to this, the family has found it difficult to share their story, Work says she doesn’t want people to hear that her aunt died and think that it was somehow related to the transplant, “Her(Denise) getting the cancer is 100 percent, completely unrelated to donating the kidney,” she told us in an over the phone interview.

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Work mentioned that although Denise had passed, a part of her still lived on, and that drew tears at her cousin’s (Denise’s son’s– Barry’s) wedding. Barry decided that for his mother-groom dance he would dance with Faye, because a part of his mom was still alive inside her.

Alan Work, was married to Denise and at 71 will be attempting to walk the 100 km journey this fall.

Work is planning a Kidney March BBQ at the Role-A-Dome on the evening of Thursday, July 25 from 4-7 pm. The money raised will go towards her teams goal of reaching $40,000. Currently they are around the $32,000 mark and hope that this event will be a success to get them even closer to their goal.

The Kidney March takes place in Alberta, and runs from September 6-8th. Participants will walk 100 km in three days to raise awareness for Kidney disease.

Work says that organ donations go a long way and wants to remind the public that if they are organ donors, to ensure that their families are aware of their post-mortem wishes. Organ donations can be vetoed by family members.