Find the Horizon

Katie was sitting in bed with Rita, Tim and Andrew by her side. It was Tuesday May 12th around noon. The doctor who had been treating her was there too, a clipboard in his hands. He wanted to discuss something with Katie about her condition, and he wanted her entire family to be there during his proposition.

“I wanted to give you two options about what’s going to happen next,” Dr. Neil said. Katie nodded, listening intently. “Your chances of relapse are a lot higher than say, a ten year old going through prolonged chemotherapy for leukemia. I wanted to know what your thoughts were of continued cycles of chemotherapy over an extended period of time, or if you wanted to pursue the idea of a bone marrow transplant.”

“Extended period of time?” Katie asked. “How long would that be?”

Dr. Neil adjusted his glasses. “Around two to two and a half years.”

“I want the bone marrow transplant then,” she said almost immediately. “With all due respect, Doctor, I don’t know how much longer I can stay inside this hospital.”

“Well, if you want to go with the bone marrow transplant, you’re going to have to first agree on a donor,” he explained. “Either one of your parents could donate, but there’s only a twenty-five percent chance that they’d be a match.”

“I can’t donate,” Tim spoke up. “I’m not her biological father.”

Suddenly, Andrew spoke up. “Can I donate?”

Katie’s eyes flew over to her brother. “What?”

“I want to help save Katie,” he said boldly. “I’ll donate my bone marrow if I’m a match.”

Everyone looked shocked. There sat this little nine year old boy who had suddenly grown into a man. Katie felt her eyes welling up with tears. “You would do that for me, Andy?”

“Of course,” he said, smiling at his big sister. “Anything to get you healthy again.”

“He’s only her half-brother,” Rita informed Dr. Neil. “Could he still be a viable donor?”

Dr. Neil nodded. “As long as his human leukocyte-associated antigens match hers and are healthy enough to donate, it should be fine.”

Katie reached over to Andrew and gripped onto his hand. “You’re a brave kid, you know that?”

“I get it from you,” he mused. Katie laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes. Andrew got out of his chair and went to hug her. “I know you’d do the same for me.”

She squeezed him tightly. “In a heartbeat.”

* * * *

The next day was Game Seven of the Pittsburgh-Washington series. Sidney was getting ready in the visiting team’s locker room at the Verizon Centre as they prepared to head out onto the ice. Just as Sidney had finished tying up his skates, he heard his phone going off. He went and looked at it, seeing that he had gotten a text from Katie.

Amazing news--Andrew is a match for my bone marrow transplant. I might live to see twenty-two after all. Good luck with your game, can’t wait to see you back in Pittsburgh!

A huge smile spread across Sidney’s face. Max and Kris walked up to him. Max nudged him slightly.

“Good news? Is it Katie?”

“Yeah,” he said, the smile not once leaving his face. “She just told me that her brother is a match for her bone marrow transplant.”

“That’s incredible!” Max declared. “Does that mean we’ll get to meet her soon?”

“Not yet,” Sidney shook his head. “Come on. Let’s get our heads in the game.”

Max nodded and went off to find Flower for their pre-game ritual. Kris wandered off to his place in the line and Sidney took in a deep breath. This game was all or nothing. He had to put his thoughts of Katie on the back burner for now. He wanted to go home and tell her that they were headed for the Eastern Conference Finals, not that they were home for good.

The game started off strong for both teams. Ovechkin got a hold of the puck as the fans in the sea of red exploded, expecting their superstar to produce the game’s first goal. He had a breakaway against Marc-André Fleury, but when he shot the puck, Fleury managed to make the glove save and sucked all the air out of the building.

It was at that moment that Sidney knew that they would be able to win that game.

He ended up scoring twelve and a half minutes into the first period, with Craig Adams scoring eight seconds later. Bill, Kris and Jordan Staal all managed to score in the second period, Ovechkin finally putting his team on the board making it 5-1 going into the third. Sidney scored another power play goal two minutes in, and Laich got a goal for his team four minutes later. The final score of the game was 6-2 Penguins.

“We’re headed for the Conference finals!” Sidney declared as everyone swarmed Marc-André Fleury, congratulating him for being so solid in net.

“Yeah, and I get to face my brother!” Jordan grinned. “This should be good!”

As Sidney changed and showered after the game had ended and the reporters had all cleared out, he sat in his stall for a second and reread Katie’s text. As he read it again for the tenth time, he got another text from Katie.

Congrats on the win! I knew you could do it! So proud of you, see you when you get back!

Sidney smiled wide and tucked his phone into his pocket before gathering his equipment and heading out to the bus that was to take him and his teammates back to the plane. It was a good day.