The Popham Kidney Support team at last year's UK Kidney Week event

Popham Kidney Support has received the prestigious honour of being a featured charity at UK Kidney Week 2023. The Swansea-based charity aids kidney patients and their families with emotional, financial and informational support helping them to live a better quality of life.

UK Kidney Week (UKKW) was created by the UK Kidney Association and this year will run from June 5 to 7. It is the largest UK event for kidney professionals and involves educational sessions, state of the art lectures and research, in addition to networking opportunities with clinicians, academics, scientists and kidney charities.

UKKW works with many charities throughout the week and will also be working with Kidney Research UK and Kidney Care UK. The event is being held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Newport, Wales, with daily plenary lectures and presentations from leading experts in the field. For more information about UK Kidney Week, including the event programme and list of speakers, please visit www.ukkw.org.

The announcement comes as part of Popham Kidney Support’s tenth anniversary. The ten-year anniversary campaign has been coined Pledge10, and the charity is calling for people to donate at least £10 and complete a challenge that involves the number ten. This could be running ten miles, painting ten paintings, or completing ten marathons – the only rule is that the idea must be focused on the number ten.

Several people involved with the charity have committed to challenges already, including Popham Kidney Support CEO, Joanne Popham, who will be completing a ten-mile run on the tenth of each month. The charity’s Patient Support Coordinator, Geraint John, will be trekking the 177-mile Offa’s Dyke trail, stretching from Chepstow to Prestatyn in ten days, as part of the Pledge 10 campaign.

Popham Kidney Support was originally founded as ‘The Paul Popham Fund, Renal Support Wales’ in March 2013, five months after the passing of Paul Popham – father of CEO, Joanne Popham – following a courageous battle with kidney cancer. Over the course of ten years, the charity has grown exponentially, expanding its services across the whole of Wales after primarily operating in South Wales. It supported over 3,000 people during 2022 alone and has ambitious plans for further growth to improve the lives of those affected by kidney disease throughout Wales.

To get involved with Pledge10, registration can be done through the dedicated Eventbrite page or visit Popham Kidney Support’s Pledge 10 Challenge for further details.