Why does Michelle MacKinnon fly across Canada every year to walk 100 kilometres over a three day weekend? She needs to do something big. Something really big. In honour of her son David. Because the very day of his kidney transplant, the very morning she was scheduled to give him her left kidney, David had a stroke and died from the complications of kidney disease. He was 18 years old.

It’s been six years since then. And Michelle has been doing the annual Kidney March in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta ever since. “Every person at Kidney March understands everything we have gone through - in a way that no one else can,” she says. “The March isn’t going to bring David back. But I do it with my son Andrew to honour David, and every other kidney patient in Canada.” Michelle lives in Niagra Falls, Ontario with her husband Dave, and 23-year-old Andrew. “That first year, I cried and cried, meeting all of those amazing people. It is absolutely beautiful there. Gorgeous scenery. Beautiful people,” she smiles.