we always start off positive and believe we’re going to beat this thing. From there, I watch these brave little souls fighting for their lives, losing their hair, and getting sick, while their parents observe from the sidelines, helpless to do anything except hold them when they’re getting scared. When the parents aren’t here, we hold them. You know, I’ve spent the last eighteen years here, and I find myself looking at these kids asking, ‘Why did I walk out of here alive?’ What happened to make my cancer—a very aggressive one, at that—just disappear overnight?”
Nick sat and listened. He was getting to know the real Shelly White. She had his undivided attention.
“How many people do you know who wake up and their cancer has just disappeared?” she asked. “The good thing is, cancer’s treatable in most cases now. If we can get these kids early, we can treat them, and the prognosis is so much better. It’s amazing how a simple exam can save a life.”
“I can attest to that.” “What do you mean?”
“A couple of years ago. Just a scare,” he said. His doctor had suggested a colonoscopy since there was cancer in the family. Sure enough, they’d found a polyp in the ascending colon. Big enough that it was about two years from becoming cancerous. His doctor told him he might not have made it to forty. “I just know it’s important to be tested depending on the circumstances.”
“Our problem,” she said, “is getting children here in time. Too often parents think their kids have the flu or something. The good thing is, we save more than we lose at St. Theresa’s. I am so proud of this hospital’s work.”
Bella interrupted Nick on the intercom. Two quick buzzes. That meant Bongero was on the warpath.
“Uh, Shelly, I mean, Dr. White, I have to run.”
“Okay, but, Nick, can we try this again?” she asked before he could hang up. “We can meet for lunch, dinner, feed pigeons in the park, I really don’t care. I think you’ll find I’m a good person—a little gun shy—and someone who might misjudge others once in a while.”
For the second time in the same day, she had caught Nick completely unawares. This morning she told him off and now she was asking him out.