CANADA: Transplant Recipient Turns Living Donor Gift Into Shoe Campaign, Pledges 15 Percent To Kidney Foundation

John Fluevog Champions kidney transplant Awareness With Shoe Fundraiser After Living Donor Transplant

WORLD NEWS – CANADA: John Fluevog has turned his kidney transplantation into a public campaign, designing a blood-red shoe with green straps to raise awareness and funds for kidney disease. The designer, who spent more than three decades living with polycystic kidney disease, created the shoe with a physician to symbolize a vein and an artery; 15% of sales will support the kidney Foundation during Donation Awareness Month.

Fluevog’s health worsened until a friend, identified as Patty, stepped forward as a living kidney donor. His medical team says finding a living donor was vital to his recovery, and the transplant gave him a swift second chance that has reshaped his public advocacy. He is now approaching one year post-transplant and credits the donor with restoring his life.

The kidney Foundation notes that more than 50,000 Canadians live with kidney failure, with over 70% awaiting a kidney transplant and many others dependent on dialysis. Fluevog’s campaign aims to spotlight living donation and the larger gaps in public understanding of kidney disease by marrying art, fashion, and fundraising.

Carrying his donor’s gift with every step, Fluevog is urging more Canadians to register as organ donors and to consider living donation when possible. The shoe project, he says, is meant to prompt conversations on transplantation, normalize donor generosity, and direct tangible support to patients and services through the foundation.

Video originally published on 2026-04-15 22:30:56