Nearly 150 advocates from six kidney organizations will converge on Capitol Hill, March 6-7, to meet personally with lawmakers and put a human face on kidney disease during the 4th Annual Kidney Patient Summit, organized and led by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF). This largest event to date brings together, in a unified voice, NKF’s Kidney Advocacy Committee members and advocates from Alport Syndrome Foundation, Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, NephCure Kidney International, Home Dialyzors United and American Association of Kidney Patients. 

The attendees will share their stories and urge Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Living Donor Protection Act, which would prohibit discrimination in life, disability or long-term care insurance for living organ donors and protect jobs by adding living donation to the Family Medical Leave Act; support a pilot program which seeks to improve early detection, care and outcomes for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD); and support funding for CKD programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and Health Resources and Services Administration.

At the Summit, individuals who have kidney disease, dialysis patients, living donors, family members and caregivers will be united by the affirmation and hashtag #MyKidneysMyLife to underscore the direct relationship between having at least one healthy kidney and living at all.

In addition to advocates’ visits with lawmakers on Tuesday, March 7, this year a special Summit press conference focused on living donation will be held the same day from at 1 p.m. EST, on Capitol Hill. Living organ donors and kidney recipients will share their stories, demonstrate the urgent need to increase living donation, and provide hope to more than 100,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant.

To learn more or support kidney disease patients, please visit: http://advocacy.kidney.org/4th-annual-kidney-patient-advocacy-summit/