News

Earlier this week the Six Degrees of Kidney Disease campaign, The Kidney Foundation of Canada’s first digital fundraising initiative, culminated with over $31,000 raised for kidney disease research and patient support in Canada. In addition, thanks to Canadians across the country sharing their connection to kidney disease with the #SixDegreeChallenge hashtag, over 2 Million people were reached and raised awareness online to eliminate the stigma surrounding kidney disease.

The #SixDegreeChallenge online campaign invigorated a conversation on the connection so many Canadians have to kidney disease. With nearly one in ten Canadians living with kidney disease, every person in the country knows someone living with this often-invisible disease - a disease with no cure.  In an effort to highlight these connections, the #SixDegreeChallenge campaign encouraged Canadians to share a picture of themselves throwing “The Six” (holding up six fingers), captioning it with their own story and connection to kidney disease.

In addition to sharing online, Canadians across the country were asked to donate during the 24-hour day of giving on March 27 to support The Kidney Foundation in raising funds for research initiatives, patient support programs, and educational activities for their community.

The #SixDegreeChallenge campaign was led by The Kidney Foundation partners, Canadian musical icon Tom Wilson and 2014’s Miss Intercontinental Canada Delaney Holley. Two Canadians who had never met and yet were connected by the disease through their own personal backgrounds. In addition to Wilson and Holley, stories of connection were shared throughout the campaign by other notable Canadians including Bif Naked, Cristina Howorun, Kathleen Wynne and The Tenors.

Check out #SixDegreeChallenge on social to see other stories from Canadians shared throughout the campaign.

For more information on the #SixDegreeChallenge campaign, visit www.sixdegreechallenge.com.