Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation
mixed media on stiffened fabric
19” x 23.75”
2020
Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation documents time after I was accepted as a kidney donor, and everything connected on my end toward my son receiving a kidney, my donation, and some of my recuperation.
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.
My Dates of a Life: Kidney Donor Testing painting shows the process of testing from the day I first applied on December 20, 2019, to the day I was accepted as a kidney donor on July 23, 2019.
Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation continues from July 23rd. It includes when my son received a kidney in Seattle in late October 2019, the search for my recipient and weeks I waited to donate to someone I was matched with with my blood type via the National Kidney Registry, my preparation to donate, my surgery in Seattle on December 17, 2019 and my recuperation in Seattle until December 27th, and then at home in Natick, MA through February 23rd.
Detail of Dates in a Life: Kidney Donation
There are symbols that represent each medical test (urine, blood, x-rays, and scans), phone calls or emails with the medical team about testing, travel across the US from Boston to Seattle for my donation, talking to kidney donors, recipients and my son, his transplant date, and just passing time while I waited to donate. There’s a symbol that marks the day in 1975 I lost my father to kidney disease after his unsuccessful transplant. There are symbols, all with gold paint, for my transplant, my hospital stay, passing time as I recuperated, and when I got a thank you card from my recipient and when I sent her a note in return.
The black lines under a square highlight the time my kidney is listed and until a recipient is found. The dark turquoise lines are for when I had to stop taking any medications in preparation for my donation. The dark brown lines show when I got virus and was totally bed ridden because my body didn’t have enough energy to heal from surgery and fight a virus at the same time.
I decided not to use a calendar format, 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.
The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.
