Surf’s still up as Kidney Foundation festival winds down

The National Kidney Foundation Surf Festival wraps up in Cocoa Beach Monday.

Surfers from around the world have come to the Space Coast for the competition’s 25th anniversary.

Richard Salick, a former professional surfer who founded the festival, has had recurring kidney problems, and has received three kidneys since 1973 from his three brothers.

Each year, the event raises over $150,000 to help kidney patients in Florida.

Richard’s brother, Phil, said he did not think twice about donating to his brother, adding it was amazing to see how big the surf festival has grown.

“The whole idea was to pay back the kidney community,” he said.

The Salick brothers said 250 volunteers work the festival every year, and they couldn’t do it without them.

“There’s a lot of irony through this whole thing,” said Richard Salick. “I have been real fortunate to have this great technology that’s kept me on the planet. My family, I’ve never had to ask them, not a one. They’ve all just stepped forward.”

Salick called his brothers heroic. He now needs another kidney, and said it will likely come from his 33-year-old son.