Brother's Best Friend Is My Child's Father

The beeping of the heart monitor echoes in the room while I'm bandaging a burn injury on a young boy's forearm. 

His mother is holding his hand, her eyes wide with a fear I've seen a thousand times. 

"You're being so brave…" 

I murmur to him, my voice calm and completely in control.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I ignore it.

I can't afford the distraction right now, and in any case, it's probably the babysitter with another question about dinner. The vibration from the call fades, but my phone rings with another call immediately after. 

Something is wrong. 

"Excuse me for one second," I say to the mother as I pull out my phone with my gloved hand.  

'Westbrook Elementary'

My heart gives a little stutter. I swipe to answer, my voice coming out tighter than I intended. "Dr. Janice speaking."

"Dr. Janice, it's Mrs. Albright, Maya's class teacher." 

Her voice is shaking, and my heart lurches. 

"Maya was in gym class. She felt dizzy and then... she fainted. She is in and out of consciousness, the paramedics are taking her to Heartlife Central."

I feel a strange beeping sound in my ears, overpowering every single sound. 

“Fainted?" 

But how? Maya is healthy and vibrant, my six-year-old who never stops dancing. 

"I'm coming. I'm coming right now." 

I hang up and look at the mother and her son, the words tumble out in a rush. "I am so incredibly sorry, but there's a family emergency. Dr. Evans is just outside, he'll be here in less than a minute to finish up. I hope you can understand." 

I don't wait for a reply before stripping off my gloves and shoveling my phone back in my pocket.

The ten minute drive to the hospital goes by in a blur, and the moment I rush in, I find Adrian in the corridor outside the paediatric wing. 

He's already leaning against the wall, his face etched with a worry that looks unusual on his usually cheerful features. Adrian, my best friend, Maya's beloved 'Uncle Addy'. 

He must have been on shift here.

He pushes off the wall as he sees me.

"Elena…!” 

His hands reached out to take mine. 

"She's in there, they are doing some blood work but she is awake now. She's asking for you."

"What happened?" I demand, my gaze flicking towards the closed door of the examination room. "Did you see her? Did they say anything?"

"Just that she collapsed. They're being cautious. She's a little scared, but she's being so brave, Lena. Just like her mother." He gives my hands a gentle squeeze. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I squeeze back, taking one second to ground myself before I push the door open.

And there she is… my Maya. She looks so small in the big hospital bed, her dark curls spread out on the white pillow. Her face is pale as the sheet, with two spots of high colour on her cheeks. An IV line drips steadily into her arm. 

When she sees me, her face crumples. "Mommy!"

I'm at her side in an instant, gathering her in my arms, careful not to jostle the tubes. I can feel her heart beating against mine, fast and frightened. "Shh, my bird, shh… I'm here, mommy's here. What happened, my brave girl?"

"I don't know," she whispers against my neck. "I was running and then everything got all spinny, and then it just went away and I fell."

I hold her tighter, kissing her hair, breathing in the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo with relief. 

"Well, you're in the best place. We're going to figure this out, okay? Uncle Addy is right outside."

A young resident comes in, all earnest eyes and clipboards. He asks me a cascade of questions: has she been unusually tired lately? Any unexplained bruises? Any fevers?

And as he asks, a cold dread begins to trickle down my spine. The dots, which I had dismissed as signs of tiredness or growth spurt or exam season, are suddenly connecting.

Dr. Marcus Chen, the head of paediatric oncology, walks in. 

I have consulted with him on cases before, handed over my young patients to his care. Adrian steps into the room behind him and stands beside me.

"Dr. Elena," Dr. Chen says gently. "Let's step outside for a moment."

I look down at Maya. Her big, brown eyes are fixed on my face. "I'll be right back, sweetheart. Two minutes. Uncle Addy will stay with you." 

I need to be strong for her.

Adrian gives my arm a quick, supportive squeeze as I walk out, but he stays by Maya's bed. In the corridor, the door clicks shut behind us.

Dr. Chen doesn't mince words. He's too good a doctor for that, and he knows I am, too. 

"The initial bloodwork is back. It's not good, Elena. Her white blood cell count is critically high, and her platelets and red cells are dangerously low. We're looking at acute lymphoblastic leukemia."

ALL… I know this disease, know the protocols, the chemo, the statistics, and I know the long fight that it takes. 

I swallow the sob coming up my throat.

"A definitive diagnosis will require a bone marrow aspiration," he continues. 

"But given these numbers, we have to proceed on the assumption that it's leukemia. We need to start planning the treatment protocol. The first phase will be intensive chemotherapy. After that, given the aggressive nature of the initial count, a bone marrow transplant will be the necessary path forward for a long-term cure."

Bone marrow transplant… 

My mind, trained for this, kicks into gear, latching onto the one thing I can control. "I want to be tested. I'm her mother I want to see if I'm a match."

Dr. Chen nods slowly. "Of course, Dr. Elena. We can do that. But you should know, a parent is only a partial match fifty percent of the time. A full match is much rarer. Siblings are the ideal candidates, but—"

"I know the statistics," I cut him off, perhaps more sharply than I intend. "I know the odds, but I have to try. She's my daughter!”

He holds my gaze for a long moment, then nods again. "I'll have the lab prep for your typing immediately. We can draw your blood right now."

I follow him to the treatment room, roll up my sleeve, and watch as the phlebotomist fills vial after vial with my blood. As the needle pierces my skin, I send a silent prayer into the universe.

Please, let me be the one. Let me save her.

The next few hours are a blur. I don't leave Maya's side. Adrian brings me coffee I don't drink and sandwiches I don't eat. We talk in whispers, or not at all, while Maya drifts in and out of sleep, her little hand always reaching for mine whenever she wakes.

I watch the door constantly, waiting for Dr. Chen to return with the results. Every time a nurse passes, my heart lurches. Every time footsteps pause outside, I hold my breath. 

When Dr. Chen finally comes back, his face tells me everything I need to know before he even opens his mouth. 

"I'm so sorry, Dr. Elena," he says softly. "You're not a match. There's a chance with the national registry. We'll put her on immediately. There are millions of potential donors. We will search aggressively."

I nod mechanically, but my mind is already racing ahead, a doctor's mind, a mother's mind. 

What are the odds? And how long is the wait going to be…

Adrian steps beside me in an instant, his hand on my shoulder. "We'll find someone, Lena. We'll find a match. I'll help however I can! I'll organise donor drives, I'll—"

I can't respond. If I even open my mouth, I'll collapse into sobs.

I sit there until Adrian has to leave for his midnight shift, and the lights in the room have been dimmed. Maya is asleep, her breathing soft and even. I sit in the hard plastic chair by her bed, navigating my way out of a hellish landscape of ‘what ifs’. 

I look at her peaceful face and let the silent tears I can no longer swallow slide, one by one, down my cheeks.

How do I save her? 

I am a doctor– I save people for a living, but right now, sitting in the dark, I have never felt so utterly, terrifyingly helpless in my entire life.