Memorial Medical Center’s 15th annual 5K Transplant Run/Walk to benefit kidney transplant patients will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Hope Pavilion in Southwind Park in Springfield.
Registrations are open online at MemorialTransplantServices.com through Sept. 27; participants can also go online to print out a registration form and mail it in. Registration will be available on the day of the event starting at 8 a.m. To be guaranteed to receive a T-shirt, registrations must be turned in by Sept. 6.
The registration fee is $25 for adults and $15 for 12-year-olds and younger. Registration increases by $5 per person on the day of the event.
The Alan G. Birtch, MD, Center for Transplant Services at Memorial is the event’s host. Proceeds benefit Memorial’s transplant funds, which provides assistance to patients, education for patients and staff, and continuing program development.
Participants can pick up their race packets on the day of the event or from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in the lobby of Memorial’s transplant office at 501 N. First St. in Springfield.
“For a decade and a half, we have been overwhelmed by the support of our community to help us raise funds to assist our patients and their families,” said Kim Draper, a member of the transplant program and co-coordinator of this year’s event. “This event is also a wonderful time for our patients and donor families to come together to share their stories.”
Life Goes On, which promotes organ donations, will be on hand to encourage people to sign up as organ donors.
The transplant team follows and manages the care of approximately 300 post-transplant patients. The transplant program is a cooperative initiative involving Memorial Medical Center, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Springfield Clinic. Since its founding in 1972, the program has completed nearly 1,000 transplants.
An estimated 330 people participated in last year’s event, including transplant recipients, living donors and families of deceased donors.
For more information, call Memorial’s Transplant Services at 217-588-2417.