For a future free from Dialysis Fund

Dialysis is degenerative. People go on dialysis and decay, psychologically and physically, until they are socially isolated. Then, they die in silence. There is no awareness, and so no desire to change this. Despite heavy cost to both the patient and the state (~5% of all health care spending) This is the reason dialysis has remained the same for 50 years. As someone who was on dialysis and now working to end it, Tuğrul Irmak and the team at Nephrology want to make a difference. They want to build a bio-artificial kidney. For this we need to raise not only funds but awareness, for it is the lack of awareness that has blocked progress. About Tuğrul Irmak He is extremely motivated to end the threat of dialysis that hangs like a dark cloud over every kidney patient. As a mountain climber and kidney patient himself, Tuğrul Irmak takes action for a future free of kidney dialysis. His target is €1 million. But he goes much further than just a fundraiser: as a researcher at the UMC Utrecht, Tuğrul himself is also working on an artificial implantable kidney. He just started a campaign: the Climb Against Time . Tuğrul: “The transplant gave me my life back — or at least let it continue. But my kidney has a limited lifespan. I spoke to people in the same situation whose transplant failed and who had to go back to dialysis. With this campaign, we want to raise money for Artificial Kidney Research. Dialysis patients have to make a constant, tough climb to survive. To symbolize this, we are going to climb!” Tuğrul invites people to donate, but also to participate in the Climb and take on their own challenge. “Walk, cycle, run or climb. Use your summer vacation for a good cause.” Via Friends of UMC Utrecht & Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, the donations will end up in the right place.