Post by Jessica♥ on Jan 29, 2008 17:01:21 GMT -5
So, yeah, I have a new story going on. Gonna see how this one goes. Enjoy =]
"I'm sorry to say this, but, it appears that Loralei now has leukemia...we didn't catch it early enough. I'm going to give her a year or so."
Those words almost killed me; my little sister had just a year left? She was only eight...she hasn't experienced any of the things that life really has to offer her.
My mom broke down beside me, while my dad, who was on the other side of her, tried his hardest to comfort her, but he was crying too. I felt my face become increasingly wet, and finally realized that I was crying, Zander, my older brother was on my other side, he had to leave the room. Loralei was still in her hospital room while we were in the doctor’s office hearing the news.
This all might be easier to understand if I started from the beginning. I'm Taryn Porter, I'm fifteen and, originally, I lived in Seattle. I have a brother, Zander, and a little sister, Loralei. My dad, Avery is a university professor, and my mom is just a stay at home parent.
Loralei was first diagnosed with her first bout of cancer when she was just three, and we moved from Seattle to California there is a hospital called City of Hope in Duarte, we don't live in Duarte, we live in Los Angeles, it isn't far from the hospital. She had chemotherapy there and she went into remission. We were so thankful; we discussed if we were going to move from L.A back to Seattle, but decided against it because that was where our family was saved.
That was five years ago. About four months ago, Loralei started getting sick, she had a fever, she was weak and she was fatigued. My parents thought that it was the flu, so that just let it be. But it didn't go away, so they finally took her to the doctors, who then told us to go to City of Hope to see her cancer doctor. We knew where that was going, so Zander who had only just turned twenty dropped out of school, mom and dad pulled me out and began home schooling me. Twice a week my tutor would come with my workbooks, give a quick lesson, and leave, then she would come back and take them up with me, give me more work then leave again. They did so many tests on her, but she was so calm, then that brought us to where we were.
"Why didn't you catch this sooner?" my dad asked.
The doctor, Dr. Graham, sighed and pushed his glasses higher up his nose, "You didn't bring her in, because it looked like the flu, just like all other cases of Acute myeloid leukemia, so we-"
"Don't you dare turn this on us, you should have seen it!" mom shouted at him, pointing a finger at him.
"Eliza!" my dad said, reaching and putting his hand over her's; bringing it back down to her lap.
"I don't understand," I managed to whisper; "She only just got sick."
"This disease progresses quickly, too quickly," he told me, "I am so, so sorry," he added.
"Sorry isn't going to make this better," my mom sobbed before leaving the room.
Dad closed his eyes, and got up, when he opened them again, tears started pouring out, he quickly shook the doctor’s hand and ushered me out of the room. Mom and Zander weren't in the hall, so dad led us to where Loralei's room was. She looked pretty happy sitting there, watching Hannah Montana on the Disney channel. Mom was brushing Lora's long brown hair, and dad hurriedly began packing her stuff from her week long stay, Zander was just standing there, looking at her with a look of sadness and disbelief.
"You and Taryn take this stuff out to the car, your mom and I are going to talk to Lora," dad whispered to Zander, who just nodded, taking her High School Musical duffel bag, and dad's car keys and left the room, with me following close behind him.
We walked out of the hospital in silence, really, what was there to say? Nothing was going to be able to comfort us now, we just wanted our life to be perfect, and Loralei being sick wasn't that. I got into my dad Cadillac Escalade, in the very back seat, so that Zander and Loarlei could have the middle row, he handed me the duffle bag and closed the door. Silence took over once again. We waited almost forty five minutes until we saw them coming into the underground parking area. Mom and dad still looked visibly upset, but Lora...looked almost at peace.
"Why isn't she upset?" Zander muttered, tilting his head back towards me.
"Dunno," I muttered back.
The three of them got in, and we pulled out. Loralei was singing along to Disney radio, which it was always tuned to in the car. I didn't understand how she was so calm, maybe mom and dad decided against telling her right then.
When we got home, Lora went to her room, while Zander, mom, dad and I stayed in the living room.
"Did you guys tell her?" Zander asked.
"Of course we told her," dad sighed.
I started twirling my shoulder length auburn hair, which I did when I was nervous, or worried, or scared, "Then why isn't she...you know, freaked?" I asked.
"I don't know, she just smiled and nodded when we told her, then asked if we could leave so she could play with her dolls," mom said.
"Maybe she doesn't understand," Zander suggested.
Dad shook his head, "She understands, we asked her that, and she said that dying meant she would go to heaven."
All I knew was that Heaven would be extremely lucky to have her, but I wasn't ready to let her go.
-----------
"Daddy?" I timidly asked, knocking on his open office door.
"Yeah, Tar?"
"It's Doctor Graham," I said, moving towards him and handing him the cordless phone.
He nodded and took it, I moved out of the room, and back into the living room, where I continued working on my science booklets. It had been about a month and a half since we found out...the news. I saw my dad run upstairs, then both parents, plus Zander and Loralei came running down into the living room.
"News," dad said, sitting in his lounge chair.
"Good?" I asked, putting my pencil in my workbook to keep my page.
"I guess. The doctor called to tell me that Loralei was approved for the Make a Wish Foundation. So, some of the team are going to come and ask her what she would want," dad explained.
I felt a smile come across my face, "Really? That's great."
"Yeah, so, honey, tell us what you want to wish for," mom said, turning to face Lora.
"Maybe we could all go to Disneyland!" she said happily.
Dad laughed, but shook his head, "Honey, don't make a wish for all of us. This is just for you."
"Really?" she asked.
"Of course," mom said kissing the side of head.
"Promise you wouldn't be mad?" she asked. We all nodded, "Okay, well, there is this band from Disney that I like. I think I would want to meet them."
"What band?" Zander asked.
"The Jonas Brothers," she smiled.
Chapter One
"I'm sorry to say this, but, it appears that Loralei now has leukemia...we didn't catch it early enough. I'm going to give her a year or so."
Those words almost killed me; my little sister had just a year left? She was only eight...she hasn't experienced any of the things that life really has to offer her.
My mom broke down beside me, while my dad, who was on the other side of her, tried his hardest to comfort her, but he was crying too. I felt my face become increasingly wet, and finally realized that I was crying, Zander, my older brother was on my other side, he had to leave the room. Loralei was still in her hospital room while we were in the doctor’s office hearing the news.
This all might be easier to understand if I started from the beginning. I'm Taryn Porter, I'm fifteen and, originally, I lived in Seattle. I have a brother, Zander, and a little sister, Loralei. My dad, Avery is a university professor, and my mom is just a stay at home parent.
Loralei was first diagnosed with her first bout of cancer when she was just three, and we moved from Seattle to California there is a hospital called City of Hope in Duarte, we don't live in Duarte, we live in Los Angeles, it isn't far from the hospital. She had chemotherapy there and she went into remission. We were so thankful; we discussed if we were going to move from L.A back to Seattle, but decided against it because that was where our family was saved.
That was five years ago. About four months ago, Loralei started getting sick, she had a fever, she was weak and she was fatigued. My parents thought that it was the flu, so that just let it be. But it didn't go away, so they finally took her to the doctors, who then told us to go to City of Hope to see her cancer doctor. We knew where that was going, so Zander who had only just turned twenty dropped out of school, mom and dad pulled me out and began home schooling me. Twice a week my tutor would come with my workbooks, give a quick lesson, and leave, then she would come back and take them up with me, give me more work then leave again. They did so many tests on her, but she was so calm, then that brought us to where we were.
"Why didn't you catch this sooner?" my dad asked.
The doctor, Dr. Graham, sighed and pushed his glasses higher up his nose, "You didn't bring her in, because it looked like the flu, just like all other cases of Acute myeloid leukemia, so we-"
"Don't you dare turn this on us, you should have seen it!" mom shouted at him, pointing a finger at him.
"Eliza!" my dad said, reaching and putting his hand over her's; bringing it back down to her lap.
"I don't understand," I managed to whisper; "She only just got sick."
"This disease progresses quickly, too quickly," he told me, "I am so, so sorry," he added.
"Sorry isn't going to make this better," my mom sobbed before leaving the room.
Dad closed his eyes, and got up, when he opened them again, tears started pouring out, he quickly shook the doctor’s hand and ushered me out of the room. Mom and Zander weren't in the hall, so dad led us to where Loralei's room was. She looked pretty happy sitting there, watching Hannah Montana on the Disney channel. Mom was brushing Lora's long brown hair, and dad hurriedly began packing her stuff from her week long stay, Zander was just standing there, looking at her with a look of sadness and disbelief.
"You and Taryn take this stuff out to the car, your mom and I are going to talk to Lora," dad whispered to Zander, who just nodded, taking her High School Musical duffel bag, and dad's car keys and left the room, with me following close behind him.
We walked out of the hospital in silence, really, what was there to say? Nothing was going to be able to comfort us now, we just wanted our life to be perfect, and Loralei being sick wasn't that. I got into my dad Cadillac Escalade, in the very back seat, so that Zander and Loarlei could have the middle row, he handed me the duffle bag and closed the door. Silence took over once again. We waited almost forty five minutes until we saw them coming into the underground parking area. Mom and dad still looked visibly upset, but Lora...looked almost at peace.
"Why isn't she upset?" Zander muttered, tilting his head back towards me.
"Dunno," I muttered back.
The three of them got in, and we pulled out. Loralei was singing along to Disney radio, which it was always tuned to in the car. I didn't understand how she was so calm, maybe mom and dad decided against telling her right then.
When we got home, Lora went to her room, while Zander, mom, dad and I stayed in the living room.
"Did you guys tell her?" Zander asked.
"Of course we told her," dad sighed.
I started twirling my shoulder length auburn hair, which I did when I was nervous, or worried, or scared, "Then why isn't she...you know, freaked?" I asked.
"I don't know, she just smiled and nodded when we told her, then asked if we could leave so she could play with her dolls," mom said.
"Maybe she doesn't understand," Zander suggested.
Dad shook his head, "She understands, we asked her that, and she said that dying meant she would go to heaven."
All I knew was that Heaven would be extremely lucky to have her, but I wasn't ready to let her go.
-----------
"Daddy?" I timidly asked, knocking on his open office door.
"Yeah, Tar?"
"It's Doctor Graham," I said, moving towards him and handing him the cordless phone.
He nodded and took it, I moved out of the room, and back into the living room, where I continued working on my science booklets. It had been about a month and a half since we found out...the news. I saw my dad run upstairs, then both parents, plus Zander and Loralei came running down into the living room.
"News," dad said, sitting in his lounge chair.
"Good?" I asked, putting my pencil in my workbook to keep my page.
"I guess. The doctor called to tell me that Loralei was approved for the Make a Wish Foundation. So, some of the team are going to come and ask her what she would want," dad explained.
I felt a smile come across my face, "Really? That's great."
"Yeah, so, honey, tell us what you want to wish for," mom said, turning to face Lora.
"Maybe we could all go to Disneyland!" she said happily.
Dad laughed, but shook his head, "Honey, don't make a wish for all of us. This is just for you."
"Really?" she asked.
"Of course," mom said kissing the side of head.
"Promise you wouldn't be mad?" she asked. We all nodded, "Okay, well, there is this band from Disney that I like. I think I would want to meet them."
"What band?" Zander asked.
"The Jonas Brothers," she smiled.
