#KidneyForCory

      Hello, my name is Kendra Fortin and I am seventeen years old. On this website I will be speaking on behalf of my father, Cory Fortin. The reason I am making this is in hopes to find my dad a kidney to help further his life expectancy. My father Cory has recently turned fifty-one, and over his years he has encountered many great people, and has made a beautiful family with my mother Myra. My parents have been together for twenty-four years, and have shared many wins and losses together. They have travelled to many tropical places, gone hunting in places such as Yellowknife, and have adventured to many different fishing spots when it was still possible. What I mean by it is no longer possible was when they had my brother Zachary eighteen years ago, and then myself, nineteen short months later. With the two of us they had their hands full. A few years later when we began to grow, we became a hockey family. With help of our dad, Zachary and I became driven to get to the next level of hockey which meant being at the rink was going to be a lifelong adventure. 

      Despite all of the positive things within our family, eight years ago my father brought home the tragic news that he had been diagnosed with kidney failure. Around this time my father took over his family business and has been doing it exceptionally well ever since. It requires intense labour and hard work as he deals with large machinery, along with a ton of long hours at the office. Even with the life changing news my father received, he never stopped being the loving and caring father and the husband he always was. He not always just showed up to work on his bad days, but to wherever we needed him as well. 

      His journey with this disease started eight years ago, but for five years the Renal Clinic monitored him very closely until January 2017, when they felt it was appropriate to have a surgery to put a catheter in for the use of peritoneal dialysis. Then in April of 2017 is when my father started dialysis and has been doing it ever since. With my brother and I playing very competitive hockey there comes a lot of travelling, for our family it is not as easy as most as there is a lot of equipment that comes with peritoneal dialysis that has to be packed or shipped.

       This upcoming hockey season Zachary will be leaving home for his third year to pursue his junior hockey career, and I will be leaving home for my last year of minor hockey in the PWHL. As Zachary and I continue to pursue our hockey careers, our family would be wanting to visit. Our family is extremely close, however, my father's low immune system with staying in hotels consistently is not great for his body. 

      Throughout the past three years when things began to escalate, he always manages to keep a smile on his face, even through all of the stress, pain, and loss of sleep. He truly believes that it could always be worse, and that we never know what battles others are fighting. From the day I can remember, my father would always say that loyalty, responsibility, and dependability are the keys to success. He always continues to be the most honest, caring, and positive person I know. 

      Meanwhile, my father has been fighting his own battle for three years now, with very few people knowing. I believe that now is the time to speak up and ask for help because of the positive impact he has had on so many people's lives, including mine and my family’s lives. Sadly peritoneal dialysis patients can’t live their lives to the fullest as dialysis is something to function like a working kidney would while you await for one on the donor list, which my father is very far down on still. I can confidently speak on behalf of my brother and I when I say that there are so many more memorable milestones we would like our father there to see, and experience alongside us.