Jeff Griffin of Dunkirk, along with family and friends, recently took part in the Walk For Kidney Health in Buffalo.

A Dunkirk man raised more than $3,500 in support of kidney health.

For a fourth year, Jeff Griffin, along with family and friends, took part in the Walk For Kidney Health held June 22 in Buffalo. The group walk was in memory of Griffin’s late wife, Margaret, who passed away in March 2022 due to Calciphylaxis, a rare disease with no known cure.

Money raised by the group this year will again go toward the Kidney Foundation of Western New York.

Griffin said kidney disease is personal to him following his wife’s battle with Calciphylaxis; she contracted the disease when she went back on dialysis after her donor kidney of 12 years failed.

The Dunkirk man has also been affected by kidney cancer; he had his left kidney removed a few years ago.

“I do this walk, not only for me and to honor her, but for all of the people who are alive and going through this,” Griffin said.

Since first participating in the Walk For Kidney Health four years ago, Griffin said he has learned of many people who have received kidney transplants.

“This is what makes the walk so important,” he said.

Griffin’s main goal is to bring awareness to kidney disease through events and the scholarship he started four years ago in his wife’s name. The third scholarship was given out this year totaling $1,000.

“I want people to know kidney disease is on the rise,” he said. “In the eight counties covered by the Kidney Foundation, there are currently 1,768 people on dialysis. There are currently 7,004 people on the kidney transplant waiting list.”