Message in a bottle tells of need for organ and tissue donation

TIGNISH -- He's not sure how much money his mission raised, but Brian Ellis is confident his Walk4Life raised Islanders awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation "a couple of levels."



The Summerside resident, who received a donor kidney last August, set out from East Point on April 21 and arrived Sunday in Tignish.



He and his entourage drove to North Cape where they released into the water a bottle containing a message supporting his cause. He then returned to Tignish, walking the final few kilometers under escort.



"I feel real good. My leg is probably happy. My right leg is sore, but I think I achieved my goal," he said as he sat for a reception in Tignish Legion. Well-wishers were there with food, donations and congratulatory hugs.



Ellis added about 30 kilometers this year to the walk he completed in March 2006 on days when he was not on dialysis. This year he carried a new kidney and the 50 pounds he gained, partly from the hearty appetite his anti-rejection drugs promote.



The big thing, though, is the new kidney.



"I want to show everybody that when you get an organ transplant you can do anything you did before," he said as he walked along the Western Road.



He wants Islanders to know their organs are needed here. While he no longer needs dialysis, he is aware of several islanders who remain on dialysis while awaiting a transplant, and many other islanders in need of organs or donor tissue.



His biggest obstacles this year, he said, were shin splints and loose dogs. The shin splints became an issue on the final three days of his walk; the dogs were an intermittent worry. He escaped unscathed from an estimated 10 encounters.



Such encounters are not going to deter him from continuing his mission. Health-permitting, he said he will consider another walk next year.



Ellis admitted being encouraged by the attention given to organ and tissue donation during his latter walk. The timing of the walk was deliberate; it took in organ and tissue awareness week. Last year he walked during Kidney Health month.



"The awareness is really coming along. Kidney patients and liver patients are making their story known in the paper, so thats the important thing; were getting our message out."



Funds in support of the walk will continue to be accepted at branches of Scotiabank in P.E.I.., and can still be made through Ellis website, walk4life.ca.



Joe McCabe, fundraising coordinator for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, P.E.I. branch, still has to tally up the money raised, but hes confident it will beat last years figure, partly because of a list of corporate sponsorships who have come on side this year. "It will be a good fund-raiser," he said.