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Dog walking to raise money for research this Christmas

30 November 2020

Making the most of Christmas by raising money for her favourite charity is just one of the many reasons Liz Digby is taking part in our Step Into Christmas campaign.

Step into Christmas challenge

The challenge set by Kidney Research UK is to complete a total of 144,000 steps over any 12 days in December – that's 12,000 steps a day.

Liz will be taking her two Labradors Coco and Dylan for longer walks around the countryside in Ipswich where she lives.

Liz Digby
Liz Digby and her walking companions

She said: “I haven’t set myself a fundraising target but, I know I will have plenty of support from my family and friends. We have been supporters of Kidney Research UK for a long time because my son had minimal change nephrotic syndrome when he was a child.

“He’s in his 30s now and is fine but, we know how lucky we were and want to do what we can to help other families and kidney patients”

Fundraising runs in the family

Liz’s son Ben has also raised thousands for Kidney Research UK and is now actively involved with the charity’s governance as a trustee.

Ben, who lives in London and works in the Group Public Affairs team at HSBC Group Plc, was appointed as a trustee in June this year.

After being diagnosed with minimal change nephrotic syndrome when he was eighteen months old Ben was treated at Stoke Mandeville, Ipswich and the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

He was discharged at the age of 21 and has had no subsequent relapses. He first got involved with Kidney Research UK in 2016 and has been an active member of the Lay Advisory Committee (LAC) as well as supporting the development of the charity’s public affairs and communications strategy.

Most recently, he worked with the team on the launch of the Andy Cole Fund.

Liz added: “Obviously we are big supporters of Kidney Research UK. When Ben was first diagnosed, we wanted to give something to research in the hope some answers as to why he developed the condition might be found.

“This is how we first became involved and we now know that 15 per cent of children diagnosed with the same condition will carry it into adulthood. Ben was fortunate, but we need more research and better treatments for everyone affected by kidney disease.”

How you can support

To support Liz with her fundraising you can make a donation to her Just Giving page.

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