Page 32 of The Wish
Ableary-eyed Alex enters 6 East, heading towards Jesse and Amy’s room. From behind the nurses’ station, Sandy steps out to meet him.
‘Have you spoken to Kelly today?’
‘No, should I have?’
Sandy gives him a warm smile. ‘She’s asked to see you before you see Jesse.’
‘Why?’
Her smile is comforting, but Sandy doesn’t give anything away. ‘She’s in her office. Ground floor. I think you know the way?’
Alex catches the lift down to the ground floor and follows the signs to the social work department. Greeted by the receptionist, he is immediately shown into Kelly’s office. He is feeling uneasy about all this. Has Kelly brought him down here to tell him his services are no longer needed? He pales, thinking of what that might mean.
A late night shows on Kelly, her eyes tired, her hair a little messier than usual as she comes around from her desk and, thanking the receptionist for bringing Alex to her, closes the door. Alex stays standing as she sits back behind her desk.
‘Is Jesse OK?’ Alex asks.
‘Oh,’ Kelly says, ‘I’m so sorry if you were worried. Yes, she’s OK. Well, much the same. I’ve been talking to Mandy, and we think the time is right to give you some context and background.’
Alex sighs in relief and sits down in one of the chairs opposite Kelly. He slept very little last night, and he feels he can finally see a way to create what Jesse wants. Now he is frustrated by the sudden formality. He just wants to see Jesse and show her the work he did last night, all there on the laptop tucked away in his bag.
‘How long have you known her?’ he asks.
‘About two years, since she was first diagnosed.’
‘What’s actually wrong with her?’
Kelly sighs softly. ‘I’m sorry we’ve not told you anything before, but Mandy thought now was the right time for you to know about Jesse’s diagnosis and prognosis, and she’s asked me to tell you. It’s quite hard for the family to explain over and over again what’s happening to their child.’
Alex nods, dread pooling in his stomach.
It looks like Kelly also finds this news difficult to impart. She laces her fingers together, her gaze on the table, as if she’s reading from an invisible script. ‘Jesse has ALL, which stands for acute lymphocytic leukaemia.’
‘Sounds bad.’
‘It can be. In Jesse’s case, it is. In children and young adults, it has a high success rate of remission and cure but unfortunately for Jesse she has not responded to the many rounds of treatment. A little over a year ago she had a bone marrow transplant from Sam. He was the closest match in the family but sadly it failed. She has a rare blood combination of both her parents, making neither one of them a match. She’s never stayed in remission for very long and her only chance is another bone marrow transplant but that doesn’t seem to be available.’
‘What’s so difficult about it?’
‘It’s not like a blood transfusion if that’s what you’re thinking. It involves taking bone marrow from a donor and transferring it into the patient. But here’s the thing: there are a lot of markersthat need to be met before it can be attempted. The compatibility indicators between the donor and patient must be high.’
‘And Sam’s wasn’t high enough?’
‘It was as high as we could get from any of Jesse’s family. Just about every adult member of her extended family all over the country was tested and only Sam was close enough to try.’
‘So, you need to be a family member then?’
‘Mostly, though occasionally a stranger with the right markers can work. It’s so hard to find suitable donors that register for bone marrow. We are constantly searching the database for new donors registered.’
‘What about Amy and those two boys I’ve seen with the girls?’
‘Ryan has ALL, and he is responding to treatment, Amy and Luke have CLL which has a better success rate of cure, and . . .’ Kelly takes a deep breath. She looks as serious as Alex has ever seen her. ‘There’s something else you should know, something that Mandy wanted me to tell you before you next saw Jesse. Amy has officially gone into remission; she will be discharged shortly.’
‘Oh,’ Alex says, leaning back in his chair. ‘Oh no, poor Jesse.’
‘We are pleased for Amy, of course we are. And Jesse is taking the news well – you’ve seen how mature she is. But still, it’s a difficult time as you can imagine.’
Alex is not sure he can. He likes Amy, likes her buzzy energy, but he’s here for Jesse, and can’t quite comprehend how difficult this news must be for her. Poor kid. He wants to get back to Jesse and get on with the work.
