This life-affirming experience forged a bond that would become a pillar of Vanessa and Robert's marriage-and the beginning of her new career. Despite their being early in their relationship, she volunteered one of her own kidneys-and discovered that she was a match. Although Vanessa was a primary care doctor, she developed a deeper understanding of the difficulties Robert faced with dialysis and in finding a donor. Robert suffered from end-stage kidney disease, which required him to endure years of debilitating dialysis to stay alive, at least until his failed organ could be replaced by a kidney transplant. When Vanessa fell in love with Robert, she had no idea that the relationship would thoroughly transform her life. Shaped by Vanessa’s remarkable experiences as a doctor, a woman of color, a mother, and a kidney donor, Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers is a love story, an exposé, and a clarion call for us all to consider the dualities of both loving and letting go.A young, hopeful doctor's memoir-an unforgettable love story and an informative journey into the world of medicine and kidney transplantation that ultimately asks: What does it mean to let go of something that you love, even if it is life itself? Motivated by Robert’s experience and her newfound knowledge, Vanessa became a nephrologist-a kidney doctor-and discovered far more about the realities of the specialty.

This life-affirming experience forged a bond that would become a pillar of Vanessa and Robert’s marriage-and the beginning of her new career.

A young, hopeful doctor’s memoir-an unforgettable love story and an informative journey into the world of medicine and kidney transplantation that ultimately asks: What does it mean to let go of something that you love, even if it is life itself?

Hundreds of interlaced fingers