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Cricket umpire embarking on Picton to Bluff trip on an e-scooter

Eugene Sanders aims to raise awareness around kidney disease with his epic journey.

As a cricket umpire, Eugene Sanders, is used to spending time on his feet. But attempting to do a New Zealand first, and e-scooter 1400 kilometres from Picton to Bluff is a whole new ball game.

But it’s his “why” that’ll keep him going. He’s doing it to raise awareness for kidney disease after a diagnosis left his family and colleagues in shock.

“I was playing cricket one Saturday, woke up on the Sunday and detected blood in my urine and pain in my flanks ... being a typical bloke, I just thought I’d overdone it with the bowling,” Sanders said.

But a trip to the doctor, egged on by his wife, revealed he had Polycystic kidney disease.

He’s had his fair share of health battles since, and through it all has continued his role at Canterbury Cricket as the match officials and operations co-ordinator, a key role in the organisation.

“He’s the person that’s first here and last to leave at the end of the day and he does a lot of that behind the scenes stuff, where as players, we turn up and it’s there,” said Canterbury and Black Caps batsman Henry Nicholls.

So to show their gratitude and throw their support behind Eugene’s campaign, the full squad got tested before training.

One in 10 Kiwis will have kidney disease, and 90% won’t know until it’s advanced.

As for Eugene, at just 48 years old, his kidney’s functioning at 28%. To put that into context, at 15% it’d be considered kidney failure.

“The next step is to visit a kidney transplant co-ordinator because inevitably that’s where we’ll get too, and I’ve been told in the next couple of years,” said Eugene.

But despite the uncertainty, one thing’s for certain, he’s determined to make a difference while he still can.
 

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