Kidney Walk Spotlights Black Minnesotans Fighting Kidney Disease and Health Care Inequities
The National Kidney Foundation held its 2026 Kidney Walk Oct. 25 at Allianz Field in St. Paul, raising awareness of a disease that has long hit Black communities hard, made worse by a race-adjusted kidney function formula that reduced Black patients’ chances of joining the transplant waiting list. Bernadeia Johnson, former Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent and now board chair of NKF Serving Minnesota, needed a transplant after untreated hypertension and diabetes led to kidney disease. She now supports others, including retired professor Oliver Williams, who has been on dialysis since February. Both urge people to get checked, advocate with their doctors and consider becoming living donors.
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) held its 2026 Kidney Walk on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Allianz Field in St. Paul, raising money and awareness to support people living with kidney disease.
For Black Minnesotans, that awareness includes a history of unequal care. According to research published Oct. 15, 2020, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, a race-adjusted formula used to estimate kidney function, known as the eGFR equation, contributed to inequities in kidney care. The equation reduced the chances that Black patients would be placed on the transplant waiting list compared to white patients.
After years in education, including as superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, Bernadeia Johnson was keenly aware of disparities in schools. She knew far less about inequities in health care.
That changed when a diagnosis of kidney disease, stemming from untreated hypertension and diabetes, left her in need of a kidney transplant. When she shared her story, friends and family members of people facing the disease began calling her, and she responded by offering support.
“These are people who are like me, who have [held] professional positions, who were strong and respected in their field,” Johnson said. “Yet, it’s something about walking into that doctor’s office and you get that white coat effect… and it’s easy to think they [health practitioners] know more than you.”
She encourages people to advocate for their own health, reminding them that doctors know more about the disease but not about the individual.
One of the people Johnson is supporting is Oliver Williams, a retired University of Minnesota professor who was unaware he had kidney disease.
Immediately after a surgical procedure, Williams was told his kidneys had failed. Kidney failure after surgery can sometimes reverse on its own with time, but a planned three-day hospital stay turned into 16 days.
“I’ve been on dialysis for three days a week for four hours each time since February,” Williams said.
Kidney disease often has no early symptoms that would prompt a person to seek care. Instead, other health conditions raise the risk, including uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure and obesity. Even when diabetes and high blood pressure are managed, they can still increase a person’s risk.
Unlike Type 1 diabetes, which often begins in childhood, Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to lifestyle and can sometimes be put into remission. Kidney disease is different.
“Once you have it, you can’t reverse it, but you can be stable with it,” Williams said.
He made healthier choices. “I had a friend who told me to drink water, and for me, that seemed to help me stabilize my kidney disease,” he said. Diet, exercise and a device that tracked his blood sugar also helped.
After his diagnosis, Williams was referred to a nephrologist who, he said, was excellent at explaining the status of his kidneys and working to keep his disease from progressing to stage four or five. He was also connected with the University of Minnesota M Health Fairview transplant team, whose doctors, social workers and psychologists evaluate patients’ readiness for a transplant.
Until he receives a transplant, Williams continues dialysis.
“I go in and I might feel spry the day before and the morning of, but once I get done, I can’t function,” he said. “I sort of crash for the rest of that day.”
Johnson, a kidney transplant recipient, wishes more people were willing to donate an organ but acknowledged that history makes that difficult for Black people.
“We can talk about ways that people and groups use research on Black bodies to benefit white people,” she said. “So, we know how the health system has treated us.” At the same time, she said, there are people in the community who need donors.
Johnson said hearing from donors can help ease those fears.
“It is scary to donate,” she said. “[But] from everybody I talk to, it’s relatively easy.” Donors typically recover quickly and are left with a small scar, she said.
“I just think the donor telling the stories and the recipient telling the story is what’s really important here,” Johnson said.
Johnson is also working to change the system from within. She has spoken with second-year medical students at the University of Minnesota about the importance of listening to patients, and she serves as board chair of NKF Serving Minnesota, where she advocates for awareness.
Though awareness efforts and medical staff have supported him, Williams credits his support system most.
“I am fortunate because I have some friends, I mean literally a group of friends that love me,” he said.
A friend of 50 years shared a public notice about Williams’ need for a kidney. His son’s fiancée introduced him to Johnson. Then his wife, son and others got involved.
“Having those friendships and people being willing to meet every two weeks to try to strategize how to get me a kidney or come up with ideas about ways of doing it gives me hope,” Williams said.
The group organized an event highlighting kidney disease risk factors, the importance of getting checked and the need for donors. They also help Williams stay optimistic through the tough days.
“The day of [dialysis] is challenging, so you have to keep hope alive,” he said. “I have people who care about me. And when I’m sitting in a dialysis chair, those things for me are important.”
For more information about NKF Serving Minnesota, visit kidney.org/offices/nkf-serving-minnesota or call 651-636-7300.
Vickie Evans-Nash is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. She welcomes reader responses at vickieevans2019@gmail.com.