years old. I guess I’ve never left. I want to stop cancer and turn the lights off in this place for good.” She paused. “ I’m rambling, huh?” “I wouldn’t say that. I just found out more about you than
anyone else has told me—and I have been asking.”
“Well, it’s more than that,” she said. “I heard stories about you.” “Let me guess. That I’m a playboy who parties all night and sells ads during the day? That life’s one big festival for me? Well, that was me. Then my mom got sick, and it brought back all the pain from brother’s death. Life began to look different to me. Most of all,
I want to be there for my dad.”
“From what I understand, your mom was in a support group with Doris.”
“That’s right. Mom used to talk about her. She came to the funeral. Nice woman.”
“She’s a character, but a great nurse. I am so sorry. I didn’t know about your mother.”
“Not something we talk much about, just something that happened a long time ago that we’ll never forget. Let’s face it, I sell advertising, and you save lives, so there’s not much in common between us.”
“I had no idea about your brother. Dr. Wall never told me, and all I ever heard was about you being a ladies’ man. So, I guess I might have been a little standoffish this morning.”
“You definitely were standoffish, but yes, I was a player. Now I spend a lot of time focusing on my dad. I do the things my mom wanted us to do. Believe it or not, helping the hospital and your Foundation is part of it. And as long as we’re being honest, I decided to go on the web and read up about you. You have quite an amazing story, Doctor. You’re a modern day miracle.”
“Well, not as much a miracle as one lucky human being. I woke
up one day and the cancer was gone. Lucky, but not a miracle.
“We don’t know what happened,” she continued. “I wanted to go home. But it’s interesting; I was free of cancer, but I wasn’t old enough to understand what that meant. All I really knew was I had to leave Kristen, and she’d become such a good friend. So getting a clean bill of health was kind of lousy because I had to leave her. But as I was walking out the door of the hospital, she died.” She sighed. “I guess I make it sound like recovery is so normal around here, but it’s not really. Every day we work with kids like Kristen, and