TROY, N.C. — A North Carolina physician is part of a team attempting to set a new world record.
What You Need To Know
- A North Carolina doctor is part of a team attempting to break a Guinness World Record
- A team of kidney donors will summit the highest point in each state
- This is to shatter the misconception that people are limited after kidney donation
Dr. Matthew Harmody will be supporting a group of kidney donors, sponsored by the National Kidney Registry, who will try to break the current Guinness World Record by climbing to the highest point in every U.S. state in under 43 days.
The current record is 43 days, three hours and 51 minutes.
Harmody says they’re doing this to shatter the misconception that kidney donation imposes physical limitations.
"And I think you'll see that this group has been all over the world, have done all kinds of ultra-marathons and Ironmans,” he said. "And this will bring to light really that they, really most people who donate a kidney, have absolutely no limitations.”
Harmody, a kidney donor himself, summited Mount Kilimanjaro last year on World Kidney Day to raise awareness for kidney donation.
His father passed away from kidney failure, and the now-retired ER doctor says he also saw patients daily with kidney failure.
“And during my career in medicine, there probably was not a day where I didn't treat a dialysis patient,” he said.
Donate Life NC says more than 3,000 North Carolinians are waiting for a lifesaving organ. Nearly 90% of those people are waiting for a kidney.
The team, known as Team NKR, started their trek in Alaska to climb Denali. They then head to Hawaii.
Harmody will be meeting the team when they fly to Chicago to tackle the lower 48 states.
Their team will be climbing Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in North Carolina.
If all goes according to plan, they hope to summit Mount Mitchell on or near June 17.
They will then end in Maine.
You can follow the team on social media by searching #5K50SS, or checking them out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.