Lams oneshots

a fight untill the end

Alex sat at a table with his friends at lunch, joking and laughing like always. It was just like any other day. John wasn't there, but that was normal. Well. Sort of. John had been getting sick way too much. Often ending up in the hospital for multiple days. Everyone, including his teachers, and especially his friends and family began to worry about him. The next day, Alex was worried about John. He had never been out for more than 3-5 days, but it had been a week since he was out. Just then, his car rolled up to the school. They were all high schoolers, so he drove himself. But today, his mother drove him. When he got out of the car, Alex ran up to him and his mom. John looked unusually pale. John's mother smiled at him, but it was a rather sad smile. "Hey John, how you feeling?" He asked. "Umm Alex... I need to... tell you something." He said, avoiding the question. "Of course... you can tell me anything." He replied. "I-its best if I tell the others too. He whispered. There were more band-aids on his arms than a few days ago. "O-ok?" Alex had no idea what John was going to tell him and the rest of the group. "I love you mom." He said quietly. "I love you too pumpkin." She said. The two walked silently to the table they sat at before class and at lunch. Laff and Herc were exited to see John, but frowned when they noticed his sad expression. John sat down and immediatly slammed his head against the table and cried. Everyone jumped in shock and stared at the boy. "I-im sorry..." he mumbled. "I-I need to tell you something." He said. They all listened to him. "I-im sick... very sick. They diagnosed me with stage 4 Chronic lymphocytic leukemia." He said sadly, Before bursting into tears again. Alex gasped and hugged John, tears forming in his own eyes. "C-cant they cure it?" He asked. John shrugged. "They said that CLL rarely is found in children and adolescents, it usually affects people over the age of 55... They don't know if they can cure it, but they can stop it from spreading. Th-they say I may have only 5 years to live... or less." He said sadly. "Oh god..." Laff whispered.

Everyone's lives changed from that day, especially John's. He was paranoid that he could die at any minute. Leukemia is blood Cancer basically. It affects the white blood cells which are used to fight off infections and illness. The prognosis of leukemia depends upon the type of leukemia that is present and the age and health status of the patient. Mortality (death) rates for leukemia are higher in the elderly than in younger adults and children. In many cases, leukemia can be managed or cured with treatments available today. In particular, childhood ALL has a very high 5-year survival rate.

Modern treatments have led to a greater than fourfold increase since 1960 in five-year survival rates for leukemia. Five-year survival rates for different types of leukemia are approximately:

CML (Chronic myeloid leukemia): 66%

CLL (Chronic lymphocytic leukemia): 83%

AML (Acute myeloid leukemia): 27% overall, 64% for children and teens younger than 15

ALL (Acute lymphocytic leukemia): 71% overall, over 90% for children

There is a 83% chance that John will live to the 5 years he has left, and maybe even beyond that... but CLL is not usually found in children and adolescents... there still is 17% chance of the cancer being fatal. Stage 4 CLL means the cancer has affected his bloodstream and the symptoms only worsen, leading to Anemia and Infection. Treatment started immediately.

John started chemotherapy to try and stop the cancer from spreading. John cried when he started losing his hair, but He stayed strong right through it. The schuyler sisters took him to the mall and helped him pick out a wig that looked exactly like his hair, and was made from actual hair. His friends helped him through the treatments, giving support to him. When the school found out, they decided to organize a GoFundMe page to raise money for chemotherapy. They managed to raise $100,000. John was happier than he could ever be. At first he was scared that he only had a few weeks left to live, but now he's seeing to the future, living past what he was expected to live. It's been 2 years since he was diagnosed, and he was pretty healthy for the most part. They had John make a speech in front of the entire school about the struggles with cancer and how it changed his life, but also how grateful he is to have the people in his life that he does. Everyone was so moved by it, someone took a video of it, earning 3 scholarships to one of the best colleges in the country.

One day in class however, was very unexpected. John was in Mr. Washington's class. John started finding it a struggle to breathe. He was taking deeper breaths than normal. Alex saw John struggling to breathe and immediatly began to panic. "John are you ok?" He asked worriedly. John nodded and wheeled. "Hey, deep breaths. Deep breaths." He whispered to the small boy. Laffayette looked over at the two and started worrying. It getting harder and harder to breathe. He was choking for ecen small breaths. "O-oh my god you need to go to the nurse right now." Alex exclaimed quietly. Mr. Washington, too noticed the freckled boy in the back. John raised his hand. "Yes Mr. Laurens?" He asked. "M-may I go-go to-to the- nurse?" He choked out. "What is the matter?" Mr. Washington asked, grabbing him a pass. Suddenly, John's lungs seemed to stop working completley. He gasped, startling everyone around him. "I-I c-can't- breathe-" he was gasping and choking for air. "Go! Take him! NOW!" Washington boomed to Alex. He nodded and helped him out of his chair. People in the classroom started freaking out. When they got to the door, John Collapsed. "Shit!" Alex exclaimed. Washington didn't even bother to correct his language. Alex picked John up and ran as fast as he could towards the nurse. He practically kicked the door open. "Someone call 911!"

John was rushed to the hospital and kept there for 3 days. Turns out, the abnormal white blood cells spread towards his lungs, preventing blood from reaching his lungs. They started radiation therapy to stop the spread of the cancer. Alex stepped into John's hospital room. John's wig was off, revealing his bald head. A tube was attached to his nose and he looked very sick. He was pale and had dark rings under his eyes. Alex stood by John's bed and ran his thumb over John's knuckles. He shifted in his bed and opened his eyes. John smiled, and Alex smiled back. "I didn't expect you to be here." He said. "I had to make sure your ok." He replied. John sat up and Alex hugged him. "Oh! Um... these are for you." He handed John a bouquet of roses, his favorite. John covered his mouth and took them in his hands. He smiled widely then put the flowers in a vase on the nightstand. He threw his arms around Alex and hugged him as tight as he could. That's when Alex leaned John's head back and kissed him. John didn't even hesitate to kiss back. He was so happy there were no words to describe it. Alex pulled away when he heard the heart monitor speed up. "Shhh your making the monitor go crazy." He laughed. John laughed too and rested his forehead on Alex's. He rubbed a hand over John's bald head. "Your beautiful." Alex whispered. "I love you so much.

John's health increasingly got better, and so did his life. He now had a wonderful boyfriend that loved him to death. Sure, he still had cancer, but that didn't mean he just gave up on life. The doctors said that he might even live longer than the five years expected for most patients with CLL. John was so exited that he would finally gave a normal life again, and he could be with Alex. He was very healthy and there seemed to be no signs of anything going wrong.

This made his sudden death even more devastating.

John Laurens died October 15, 2016. Nobody knows exactly how the cancer killed him, but it is definite that it was the cancer. The doctors said the abnormal white blood cells found its way to his brain and slowly ate away at it, untill all of his systems just stopped functioning. Alex was the first person to hear hear about his death, besides John's mother. He received a phone call that night. After he hung up, he screamed. Rachel Hamilton flew up the stairs and into the room, only to see her son sobbing his heart out on the floor. The news quickly spread through the school. Alex didn't go to school the next day. In fact, school was cancelled for that day. A rally was held in the auditorium in memory of John Laurens. Pictures and hearts and memories covered his locker in his memory. There was even a memorial put up under the cherry blossom tree for eceryone to see. His memory would not be forgotten.

At senior graduation, a slideshow was played in honor of John's fight to the end and beyond. Alex was chosen as Valedictorian and gave the most inspirational speech, bringing the entire audience to tears.

"John Laurens never gave up, he didnt know how long he had to live, but god, he sure fought untill the end and made the best of what time he had left."

And that's exactly what was written on his gravestone.

(I hope you liked this! I might turn this into an actual story if I think about it more. It's really kinda sad but true. If you want to learn more about Leukemia, tgis is the sight I found my information from: https://www.medicinenet.com/leukemia/article.htm#what_is_leukemia_what_are_the_different_types_of_leukemia
Hope y'all feel amazing and remember to just keep fighting untill the end, no matter what is thrown at you. -Peter 💜)