Peterborough District Masons donate $9,550 to Kidney Foundation
Former city resident Ken Sharpe on hand for announcement
PORT HOPE — With fellow Peterborough District Masons on hand, Port Hope resident Kenneth Sharp presented The Kidney Foundation of Canada with a donation of $9,550 to support its work.
In exchange, foundation staff presented Sharp, who is known as Canada’s longest living dialysis patient and who continues to advocate for advancements to the bioartificial kidney, and the Peterborough District Masonic Association with a certificate of appreciation recognizing their generous donation this year.
“To survive to the age of 62 now from 20 years old with those machines, it has been a rough life, but I do see people with rougher lives,” he said at Hope Street Terrace in Port Hope where he resides. “Just take a look around you — there is always worse and there is always better.”
He was called ‘tenacious’ by those in attendance that day, including Kidney Foundation staff, fellow Masons and Ralph Kerr, the executive assistant to MPP David Piccini.
Having undergone two transplants, two major back surgeries and surgeries on his neck and arms, Sharp said he is thankful to be alive.
“I had two pillars: my mom and my dad, the pillars of strength,” he said. “I am keeping the hope.”
Sharp, a former Peterborough resident, vowed to continue to advocate for those living with kidney disease.
“I feel a lot of Canadians don’t understand unless something happens to them,” he added.
Shannon Fogarasi, the director of programs and policy at the Ontario Branch of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, said she often starts off her public speaking engagements with one quote: ‘This could be me, this could be you.’
“Because at any moment, no matter how successful you are or whether you’re young or old, when it hits you it hits you,” she said. “It devastates your entire life and your family.”