My son was born with Dent Disease, a rare x-linked kidney disease that was passed from my father through me to him. Because his kidney disease was starting to progress, I decided to be tested in hope that I could donate indirectly to him because we do not share the same blood type.

Dates in a Life: Kidney Donor Testing documents testing and everything connected to my applying and being accepted as a kidney donor.

I applied to be a donor on December 20, 2018. I was approved on July 23, 2019. A donor was quickly found for my son, and he received a new kidney in Seattle near the end of October.

There are symbols in the painting that represent applying, each medical test (urine, blood, x-rays, and scans), phone calls or emails with the medical team about testing, travel from Boston to Seattle to the hospital for some of the tests, talking to kidney donors and recipients, and just passing time while I went through the process.

The process of testing took 220 days from the day I first applied to the day I was accepted as a kidney donor. I decided not to use a calendar format for this piece, as I did for my Dates in a Life Walking Project paintings. The thin white lines under a square highlight Saturdays and Sundays to give a sense of time.

My second painting, Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation, documents starting from being approved through my son receiving his kidney from a donor and my donating a kidney to someone in exchange.