Sarah was being admitted.
Robert Johnson held my advisor’s hand and said that he would pay any amount to save his daughter.
<
11:09
He asked my advisor if he could jump the queue for bone marrow, and tried to give him an envelope that was even bigger than the one he tried to pay me with.
My advisor rejected the envelope and told him that there were no suitable
matches at the moment, but he was doing everything he could.
He told him to gather all his family and friends who would be willing to donate, and have them get tested.
Robert Johnson jumped at the opportunity.
“Test me, I am her father and we will definitely be a match. I’ll give it to her!”
My advisor glanced at me.
Robert Johnson looked over,
saw me, and awkwardly touched his lip with his fist.
I opened my folder and
began going over the
potential dangers of bone
824
<
marrow donation.
When I was done, I looked at
Robert.
“Donating bone marrow is
very risky, are you sure you
want to do it?
“Are you not afraid that your
wife will lose another one of her children?”
Robert’s face went red.
He turned his head and said,
“I’ll still do it!”
I looked at him and smirked.
I turned to my mom and my
brother.
Matt was straightforward.
“Don’t bother trying to convince me. I’m just gonna
say it, you’re not as
important as my sister.
“How about you, Mom?” I
asked.
My mom had tears in her
eyes.
<
It seemed like she had finally calmed down after yelling at me that day.
She started wiping her eyes. and didn’t say a thing.
“Sweetie, all mothers love their daughters, if I hadn’t
been so angry, then I wouldn’t have…”
I laughed and cut her off.
“Just tell me if you will or will not get tested. I need to know.so I can schedule the appointments.”
My mom didn’t say a word, and simply hung her head.
“…Fine.”
“Are you okay with Matt donating as well?”
My mother grabbed her chest and her voice
trembled.
“…Yes.”
“You’re not worried that it’s
too risky anymore, and
you’re not worried about
<
losing both your children?”
My mom covered her face with her hands and tears
were running down between her fingers.
7
I went back to my office, where my advisor was already waiting for me.
The second I walked in, my coworkers surrounded me.
I had a mountain of snacks
piled onto my desk.
“Ava, stay happy so your baby will be healthy.”
“Yeah, ignore all the mean.
people and bad situations,
that’s how you grow happy
little babies!”
“Ava, come here, we love you.”
My eyes were watering, and
all the bad emotions that I
had been holding onto all day finally melted away.
My advisor walked over and
<
threw a pile of papers onto my desk.
“Don’t just sit there eating. Get back to work, or you will
have a tough time giving birth.”
My office erupted in
laughter. The tension had been broken.
