Woman prepares to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro after donating kidney

Mary McFarlane is pictured at her home in Bright, Ont. on Feb. 3, 2024. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV Kitchener)

A Bright, Ont. woman is preparing for the hike of a lifetime.

Mary McFarlane and a team of 13 other kidney donors are set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro this spring to send a message that saving the lives of others doesn’t mean you have to limit your own.

Mount Kilimanjaro is over five thousand metres above sea level, around 70 kilometres long, and takes eight days to climb. But it's an opportunity McFarlane couldn’t turn down.

“Now I’m feeling that I am physically ready like I have prepared to do this,” she told CTV News Saturday.

McFarlane was one of 14 kidney donors selected from around the world to climb Africa’s highest mountain.

“Last year in February, when they announced they were doing another one, I put in my application and a month later, I was chosen to join a bunch of people and do this,” she explained.

The summit falls on March 14 – World Kidney Day – a time that hits close to home for McFarlane as her husband Mark was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of 20.

“He found out fairly young that he was going to need a transplant,” she said. “They figured it would be probably five years, 21 years later he found out he had to start dialysis.”

Although McFarlane wasn't able to directly donate to her husband, he motivated her to help a stranger in need. In July of 2018, she donated her kidney through a paired kidney donation program from Canadian Blood Services.

“Knowing that I was able to give someone that chance to get away from that dialysis machine and have some sort of normalcy in their life again was very gratifying.”

Following her donation, McFarlane joined Kidney Donor Athletes (KDA), a group who's mission is to educate people on kidney donation and to increase the number of living donors.

“We know that a big deterrent for people considering kidney donation is their concern about whether or not they'll be physically capable of the same things after the donation as they were before,” said KDA trip leader Emily Polet-Monterosso.

According to KDA, increasing the number of living donations would significantly reduce the number of unnecessary deaths from kidney failure, as kidneys from living donors last an average of 50 per cent longer than those from deceased donors.

The upcoming Kilimanjaro summit is the third annual KDA One Kidney Climb. By undertaking such a monumental feat, the group hopes to inspire others and demonstrate the strength of living donors.

“It is possible for someone with a reasonable level of fitness to start from couch to Kilimanjaro,” Polet-Monterosso said.

McFarlane has been doing strength training and hour long hikes to prepare. It's been a gruelling year but she says she's ready to take on the challenge and share an inspiring message at the same time.

“I can’t even imagine what I’m going to be like at the top when we complete this crazy journey.”

As McFarlane gears up for the trip ahead, one thought remains top of mind.

“Having one kidney doesn't hold you back, your life can be normal again,” she said.

Kidney Donor Athletes aims to continue doing these climbs each year to normalize kidney donations and show people around the world that it’s possible to thrive on one kidney.