National Kidney Foundation of Florida PRESS RELEASE Contact: Bill Hahn, Kidney Patient Advocate Phone: 321-536-4741 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Fax: 321-633-7495 March 23, 2016 Amuse6168@att.net The National Kidney Foundation of Florida 5th Annual Cocoa Beach “Foot Prints in the Sand” Kidney Walk on May 7th at the Historical Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier COCOA BEACH, FL – The National Kidney Foundation of Florida is announcing this year’s 5th Annual Cocoa Beach “Foot Prints in the Sand” Kidney walk will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 10:00 AM at the Cocoa Beach Pier in Cocoa Beach, FL. Saving lives one foot print at a time, hundreds of kidney patients, organ donors and recipients will share the Cocoa Beach shore line walking together and sharing the gift of life. Established in 2012, the walk has raised over 150K in financial aid for dialysis patients. “The 5K Cocoa Beach Foot Prints in the Sand 5K Kidney Walk is the only beach walk presented by the National Kidney Foundation in the nation. It is also unique in its format. We kick-off our walk the night before on May 6th with a meet and greet donor tribute sharing the full spectrum of the gift of life journey between dialysis patients, living donors, donor families and recipients as well as a special rose ceremony for Team Mom Strong, our donor moms for Mother's Day Weekend. “In the early morning sunrise on May 7th we hold a donor mom private rose dedication for Team MomStrong on the Cocoa Beach Pier, paddle-out to create our ‘Circle of Life’ warm-up with Zumba on the beach, present our dialysis patient ‘You Are Not Alone’ recognition award and build Sandcastles of Hope. Finishing with our unique foot print inspired awards ceremony on the pier thanking our volunteers, sponsors, walk teams on of course our sandcastles builders,” said Bill Hahn, Walk Chair and Co-Founder. The National Kidney Foundation is the leading non-profit organization in the U.S. dedicated to the awareness, prevention and treatment of kidney disease for hundreds of thousands of healthcare professional, millions of patients and their families, and tens of millions of American at risk. One in three Americans are at risk for kidney disease. One in nine American adults has kidney disease, and most don't know it. High blood pressure and diabetes are the two leading causes of kidney failure. “Our walks give us a great opportunity to meet living donors and donor families face to face as well as educate people about the live-saving importance of organ donation. Every month the National Kidney foundation donates $14,000 in direct aid to dialysis patients struggling to pay bills, obtain transportation for life-sustaining dialysis treatments or simply by daily groceries,” said Savanna Pitard, Regional Development Manager for the National Kidney Foundation. “It's an honor to again take part in this year’s Cocoa Beach Foot Prints in the Sand Kidney Walk. Kidney disease is common and treatable, but early detection is the key,” said Congressman Bill Posey, a member of the Congressional Kidney Caucus and cosponsor of Living Donor Protection Act, legislation in Congress which promotes organ donation and protects the rights of living donors. “Congressman Posey is also known as our ‘Golden Foot Printer’ for his tireless dedication to chronic kidney disease patients as well as his instrumental role in last year’s dedication of the Richard K. Salick Post Office in Cocoa Beach on March 10th – World Kidney Day,” said Hahn who is also a transplant recipient and Kidney Patient Advocate. KEY FACTS ABOUT KIDNEY DISEASE: • There are currently 121,338 people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, 100,791 await kidney transplants. (as of 1/11/16) • The median wait time for an individual’s first kidney transplant is 3.6 years and can vary depending on health, compatibility and availability of organs. • In 2014, 17,107 kidney transplants took place in the US. Of these, 11,570 came from deceased donors and 5,537 came from living donors. On average: • Over 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month. • 13 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. • Every 14 minutes someone is added to the kidney transplant list. • In 2014, 4,761 patients died while waiting for a kidney transplant. Another, 3,668 people became too sick to receive a kidney transplant. EVENT DETAILS: Cocoa Beach, Florida, Where Making Your Foot Prints is Making a Difference! The 5th Annual Cocoa Beach “Foot Prints in the Sand” Kidney Walk Join us Saturday May 7th at the Cocoa Beach Pier Pre- Register on line at: http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/Florida?fr_id=8011&pg=entry On-site walk registration begins at 8:30 AM For information Contact: Bill Hahn, 321-536-4741 or Amuse618@att.net # # #