KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 -- On a warm Sunday morning at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, a small but determined group gathered not just for a walk, but for something far bigger - hope.

About 30 people, including organ transplant recipients, dialysis patients, doctors and volunteers, turned up for the flag-off of the Wira Transplant Walk - a symbolic one-hour loop around the park ahead of a far more daunting challenge: scaling Mount Kinabalu.

Among them will be 15 patients - some living with transplanted organs, others still undergoing dialysis - alongside a team of doctors, all preparing to take on South-east Asia's tallest peak.

For 42-year-old Ananthan, who received a kidney from his mother after nearly three years on dialysis, the climb is abo...