The Zac Nephron team.
After seeing the Central NJ Kidney Walk billboard on Route 1, Amy Blanchard decided to form a team to walk in her son’s Desmond’s honor. She and her husband Dan been fighting back ever since they discovered Desmond’s left kidney was doing 92% of the work, while his right kidney was barely functioning at all. At their 6 month check-up, the problematic kidney was nowhere to be found during a routine ultrasound. Doctors assumed the mysterious disappearance was a result of his body reabsorbing the kidney after it had completely stopped functioning.
Amy and Dan captained the team toward raising $3,490 for the June 2 walk by reaching out to friends and family through email and posting on Facebook. Everyone from immediate family to a pre-school class Amy had taught two and a half years ago contributed to “The Zac Nephrons,” making it the fourth-highest fundraising team of the 51 registered for the walk.
“You just ask, and people donate. It’s unbelievable,” she said.
The Kidney Walk welcomed over 600 people and raised over $63,000 toward the NKF’s mission of awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease.
After a 20-week ultrasound revealed cysts inside Desmond Blanchard’s right kidney, first-time parents Amy and Dan were in shock. Months of monitoring and hospital visits lead up to a 36 hour labor, a c-section, and an immediate trip to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia four days after he was born.
“We did ultrasounds for the next few months to watch the cysts. By the 8th month, there were cysts inside the other kidney, and we didn’t know if he would be born with functioning kidneys at all,” said Amy. “Looking back now, it all seems like a blur.”
To see pictures from or donate to the 2013 Central NJ Kidney Walk, please visit kidneywalk.org/centralnj, or call 215-923-8611 for more information. For more information on the Kidney Walk and the National Kidney Foundation, please visit nkfdv.org.
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