Northwest Kidney Centers' Breakfast of Hope May 5

Northwest Kidney Centers’ 14th annual Breakfast of Hope will be held Thursday, May 5, 2016, to raise money for patient support services. It runs from 7:30 to 8:45am at the Westin Seattle, 1900 Fifth Ave. Jean Enersen, host of KING 5’s “HealthLink,” will be the master of ceremonies.

Ben Ruback

Keynote speaker will be Ben Ruback of Boston, a passionate advocate for the rights of kidney patients. Ruback has been without working kidneys since he was in the fourth grade 20 years ago.

While on life-sustaining dialysis, he earned a degree from Harvard and embarked on a career teaching high school chemistry. He uses his personal health experience to bring science to life and inspire his students.

The event is free to attend thanks to underwriting from sponsors, and a $150 donation is recommended. Register on the website, phone 206-720-8585 or email

Why is this event important? It not only helps Northwest Kidney Centers patients, but the community as a whole. Did you know:

• 1 in 10 adult Americans have chronic kidney disease. Because the disease is without symptoms, most don’t know until the damage is severe.
• Kidney damage can be slowed with nutrition, exercise and medication.
• Philanthropy helps fund Northwest Kidney Centers programs that promote transplantation, educate the public, support kidney research, and offer charity care.
• Forty-two percent of Northwest Kidney Centers’ patients live in poverty. Gifts help patients whose insurance does not fully cover dialysis or medications. Charity care also provides transportation assistance, emergency grants and nutritional supplements to patients in need.

Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit, community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education, and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease, with a clinic in Lake Forest Park.