You, Me, and the Kidney Disease

Xander

                                                        Xander

            As soon as I heard the news that Memory went to the hospital, I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I was bumped, pushed, shoved, but that didn’t stop me. I eventually made it, but they wouldn’t let me in to her room unless I was a family member.

            I was about to lie and tell the receptionist that I was her brother until I saw her dad in the hallway, holding his wife in his arms crying.

            “Is she okay?” I asked them.

            They both turned to look at me, and her mom hugged me and started crying into my shirt.

            “Alex,” her dad paused, he would only call me Alex if it was something serious. What’s going on? “She has two failing kidneys.”

            My heart stopped. The human body only has two kidneys. With both gone, no one would survive. Does that mean- No. No!

            “You mean-” I stopped short. I didn’t want to hear the answer, but her father slowly nodded as though he was answering my question.

            Harder and harder, her mother cried.

            I leaned up against the wall for support then slowly slid down. Amazing how a day can go by completely fine, but end with such a terrible taste. I was just about to put my head in my hands, but the doctor came out of her room. He didn’t have a bit of happiness on his face.

            “Please tell me there is something we can do about this?” her dad asked.

            “I’m sorry, but her birth parents are the best chance of having the same kidneys, but we have no record of them here.”

            “You mean, we-we can’t help her?” Her mother cried into the tissue that was now damp and wrinkled.

            “I’m sorry.” He turned and started to walk away. I was desperate for a good answer, a better one. So, before I could stop myself, I said, “What about me?”