Sadness sneaks up on Dave and Michelle MacKinnon at the most unexpected moments.

The other day, it happened in the grocery store,” says Michelle. “I was buying jam, and I happened to notice the seedless jam. The last time I bought seedless jam, David was still alive, and a flood of emotion came over me. So there I was, crying in the jam aisle.”

David and his mom Michelle

In 2011, Dave and Michelle lost their son David to kidney disease when he was only 18 years old. “He was such a special boy,” says Michelle. “He was funny,” she adds with a smile. “So witty, such dry humour. And he was smart and kind… and I just knew, even as I was sitting with him when he was dying, that we would not allow death to be the end of him. I just thought that he is too amazing and that he has work to do, and we’re going to finish it for him.”

To honour their son, the MacKinnons established the David Gregory MacKinnon Memorial Foundation in 2012, which has raised more than half a million dollars. Their Foundation supports several charities, including the Niagara Health Foundation, to help ease the burden on families affected by kidney disease.

Kidney disease and dialysis were hard for David. He was the one who was dealing with the disease, he was the one who had it, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that it affects the entire family. My husband Dave, myself, our son Andrew – we were all involved in his care. Our goal is to make a patient’s and their family’s lives just that little bit easier. When you first start dialysis or start living with kidney disease, there is so much to worry about. What makes our work so rewarding is the thought that we can take away some of that worry for people in some small way.”

Board Members of the David Gregory MacKinnon Memorial Foundation with a dialysis patient in 2017. The $25,000 portable ultrasound unit pictured here is one of the many pieces of equipment their funding has brought to Niagara Health.

The David Gregory MacKinnon Memorial Foundation’s impact on local kidney patients and their families has been staggering. Thanks to their generosity, local renal clinics have been able to purchase urgently needed equipment, and patients can focus on their health rather than worry about the financial burden. “There is a start-up cost that comes with dialysis, especially when you’re doing home dialysis. You may have to cut back on hours at work to accommodate your dialysis appointments, you need equipment at home – things like a thermometer, a blood pressure machine, scales… so one of the things we do is provide care packages for people who start that journey, just to give them one less thing to worry about.”

Dave, Michelle and Andrew MacKinnon with friends at their annual Golf Tournament

One of their largest fundraising initiatives is an annual golf tournament, which brings together more than 120 golfers, some of whom fly in from as far as Alberta, to support the MacKinnon’s work. This past June, they hosted the 11th Annual David Gregory MacKinnon Memorial Golf Classic and raised close to $25,000.

“We aren’t even golfers,” Dave laughs and explains that their role with the event is pretty much everything but the golfing itself. “We do all of the work behind the scenes, from setting up in the morning, to keeping the golfers happy during the day, to taking everything back down again at the end of the day,” adds Michelle, who is grateful that their entire family is involved in making every year a success.

Beyond their significant financial contributions, they also hope to raise awareness. “I would love for people to understand how important it is to care for their kidneys,” says Michelle. “There are so many families whose lives have been touched by kidney disease, yet it is not something that is talked about a lot because it is not always visible. You don’t necessarily look sick.” For people who are affected by kidney disease, education is key. “Ask so many questions,” she says. “Information is important because it makes this diagnosis a little bit less scary.”

Michelle and Taylum right after she donated her kidney to him

She also encourages people to register for organ donation. “I myself donated my kidney to a beautiful then two-year-old boy, Taylum, and it really is not as difficult as you might think. It is very manageable for the donor and for the recipient, it is life-changing.”

Dedicating so much of their time to fighting the disease that took their son has been hard, Dave and Michelle reflect; rewarding, but hard. Each day a song, a scent or a jar of jam serves as a reminder of the void David left in the MacKinnons’ lives. And yet, it is work they need to do to honour the most precious thing of all – David’s memory.