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World Kidney Day 2026 - March 12 -
Step Against Dialysis
Kampen → Naarden → Dom
On Thursday March 12 we will cycle at dawn from Kampen, where the first patient with kidney failure was treated, to Naarden. Then walk from the Donor Monument in Naarden, to climb the Dom Tower.
Join Why Route

To honor donors, raise awareness of live donations, and make the burden of dialysis visible.

Why

Dialysis is not a solution

The aim is to celebrate life and liberty and to honor those that have given a part of themselves, to make others whole.

Dialysis is not a solution

Kidney failure means both kidneys have failed. There are then only two options; transplantation or dialysis.

While transplantation is the gold standard for treatment, due to shortage of donor organs, 300,000 people in Europe alone must survive on dialysis.

Dialysis treatment is exhausting. Half the week is spent in the hospital, bound to the machine. The other half recovering from the rapid changes in blood caused by the treatment. Yet despite this, dialysis only constitutes 5–15% of kidney function. This is because a dialysis machine unlike the kidneys, does not filter continuously.

Due to insufficient filtration, people suffer from fluid overload, cardio-vascular and neural degeneration. Strict fluid and dietary restrictions are often required just to get by.

Dialysis is therefore degenerative, with the five-year survival rate at 50%. So, many people die quietly while waiting for a transplant. During this time, people become physically and psychologically drained, and socially isolated.

Many feel incomplete, unable to satisfy their emotional and social roles.

Often, acquaintances, friends or even family are unaware of this slow deterioration that takes place. They think that dialysis isn't nice, but it is a solution. They are not aware that the person they know and love will slowly disappear.

Live Donation

A live kidney donation is the greatest gift of life one could receive and one of the most commendable acts of kindness one individual can bestow on another. It is liberating.

With transplant people can live without a machine, without degenerating, as an autonomous human being.

We want to highlight the gift of transplantation and celebrate those who bestowed it upon another!

WHAT THIS DAY IS

It is a public act of solidarity, and a clear statement that we should not accept the status-quo as the endpoint of kidney care.

It is the day where we celebrate transplantation and the donors who made it possible.

WHO IT’S FOR

Dialysis patients, transplant recipients, donors and donor families, clinicians, researchers, and anyone who understands or wants to understand what kidney failure takes from a person.

Walk part of it. Walk all of it. Or meet at the Dom.

WHY THE CLIMB

In the summer of 2025 many people who were dissatisfied with the state of dialysis took to the hills. From the cold, sharp precipices of the high mountains, to the winding valley roads of the Alpine passes. They climbed, cycled, ran and walked. In the same spirit, we want to bring the climb to the flat lands. The Dom Tower climb is deliberate symbolism: the work is not finished until the “bridge” between organ failure and liberty exists without dialysis.

We climb to make the urgency visible, and to keep pushing for better solutions.

Route — Prologue

Kampen

Dawn ride

As a symbolic start to the day, for those willing to brave the early morning cold, we cycle from Kampen to Naarden. It was in Kampen that Dr. Willem Kolff treated the first patient with kidney failure back in 1945. His work was a glimmer of light during the darkest days of humanity. His legacy is now a guiding motive. The even at Kampen will be officiated by the Mayor of Kampen, and we will start on the firing of the start pistol.

⏱️ 05:30 🚴 Cycling
Route — Walk start

Naarden

Donor Monument “De Klim”

The walk begins at the donor monument “De Klim”. The monument is an impressive landmark placed in the courtyard of the historic Grote Kerk in Naarden. Here we honour those who had to climb from the misery of organ failure, and the donors who made that climb possible. A 30 km walk then takes us through to the Dom tower.

⏱️ Start ~09:00 📍 Donor Monument “De Klim”
Route — Finish

Utrecht

Dom Tower (arrival & climb)

On our way to the Dom Tower we take a brief rest at the UMC Utrecht. Then one more hour takes us directly to the Dom Tower, where we climb the 465 steps to the top of Utrecht. Here, the golden hour will await. The Dom Tower climb is deliberate symbolism: that much more needs to be done for a future free from dialysis.

⏱️ Join from UMCU ~16:00 ⏱️ Arrival & climb from ~17:30
Join

March 12, Cycle at dawn, Walk from Naarden, Join Along the Way or Meet at the Dom

Schedule (approx.)

  • Cycle at dawn ~05:00–06:00
  • Walk from Naarden ~09:00 at donor monument “De Klim”
  • Join along the way ~16:00 (last stretch)
  • Meet at the Dom from ~17:30 (arrival & climb)

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