After hanging up the phone, Michael got out of bed imdiately.
Jake was not asleep either and whispered, "Daddy, I will also co to pick up Uncle Paul."
Hearing Jake’s voice, Michael turned his head. "Jake, did Daddy wake you up?"
Jake shook his head and said, "I am not asleep. I will go with you."
Michael did not refuse; he nodded and then headed towards the hospital gate with Jake.
Paul had not arrived yet. While Michael was waiting at the gate, he called Leah’s attending doctor and told him the news to let him prepare Leah’s dical information and discuss her condition with Paul later.
After receiving Michael’s call, the doctor naturally dared not neglect it and imdiately led his team to the hospital gate. Many people now stood at the entrance of the hospital.
Michael saw his car stop and imdiately walked forward. The doctors behind him also stepped forward.
When Paul opened the car door and saw so many people, he was a little frightened.
"Uncle Paul..." Jake squeezed to the front, looked up at Paul, and greeted him first.
Seeing Jake, Paul breathed a sigh of relief. He almost thought he would be robbed just now.
Paul bent down and said with a smile, "Jake, you have grown a lot taller."
"Uncle Paul, we have not seen each other in over a year." Jake could not force himself to smile but pulled a long face instead. Turning his head to glance at Michael, Jake introduced, "Uncle Paul, this is my father, Michael and these are my sister’s current attending doctors team."
Paul nodded at them.
"Hello, Paul..." Michael stretched out his hand. "Thank you for coming to Lake City."
Paul stretched out his hand and shook with Michael’s. "You’re welco. I want go see Leah’s condition first."
"This way, please." Michael gestured.
Soon, they arrived at Leah’s ward. Leah was still resting at this ti, and Paul gave her a brief check.
Paul then asked in a low voice, "Have you done a detailed inspection of her?"
The doctor nodded imdiately.
"Okay, let’s discuss it sowhere else." Having said that, Paul left the ward.
Michael and Jake followed them to the doctor’s office. Although they knew nothing about dical terms, it was still related to Leah’s safety, and they were restless for the ti being.
"These are all the docunts related to Leah’s examination in detail." The doctor passed Paul the docunts.
Paul read it all carefully.
The office was in pin-drop silence, no one disturbed Paul.
After a while, Paul put down the docunts and said solemnly, "Her condition is more severe than I thought. No wonder you guys tried by every ans to have co to Lake City.
"Fortunately, you have given Leah the antidote in ti; otherwise, within 24 hours, Leah’s immune system would have collapsed completely, and there would have been no room for redy."
Hearing these words, Michael breathed a sigh of relief in silence.
Considering Leah’s condition, she really could not wait any longer. Even an extra hour of waiting may prove life-threatening to her.
"In other words, there is a redy for Leah’s condition now?" Michael looked at Paul full of expectation.
"I would only say that there is nothing life-threatening for the ti being, but this poison has triggered Leah’s immune system deficit. The best way is to undergo a bone marrow transplant," Paul pushed up the glasses on his face and said.
As soon as the words "bone marrow transplant" ca out, the hope in Michael’s eyes slowly faded.
...
"A bone marrow transplant?" Michael repeated after Paul.
Paul nodded and explained, "Leah has a congenital deficiency in her immune system due to complications during gestation. When Corrine nearly drowned and was sent to our hospital for ergency treatnt, the delay must have caused so repercussions to Corrine’s health. This must have affected the foetus."
Deep furrows ford between Michael’s brows as he frowned. Was it because Wendy had fallen into the sea when she was pregnant? Wendy had fallen into the sea in Lake City. When Timothy Woods saved her, he could only perform CPR on her.
After that, she was brought out of the country and sent to Paul’s hospital for treatnt. So there was inevitably a delay in administering proper treatnt.
Michael remained silent. Unknowingly, his fingers scratched restlessly against his pants.
Paul continued, "I had initially recomnded multifetal pregnancy reduction to ensure that one child out of the twins would be delivered safely, it was also a way to ensure Wendy’s health.
"However, Corrine was not willing to give up on either child. Even if it risked her life, she wanted to keep both the twins. Ti has proven how strong Wendy and the twins are since they all survived. But the aftereffects of the drowning incident did not go easy on them.
"Corrine experienced complications during delivery. Leah, being the younger of the twins, took too long to be delivered. Her brain lacked oxygen for an extended period of ti, causing this congenital deficiency in her immunity.
"To put it simply, her immune system is weaker the average person’s, so she should avoid falling ill. Even if she caught a simple cold, it could be life-threatening.
"Before she turned three, Leah had been a long-term patient at our hospital and I was her principal doctor. After that, she proved that she had the will to survive and pulled through. Slowly, her body began functioning more like an average person’s.
"She was doing well and the issue with her immune system should not relapse. It was truly unfortunate for her to get poisoned like this. This could have been fatal.
"Although she had been given the antidote, the issues she once experienced with her immune system are now recurring. This ans that Leah will have to go through another bout of the rigorous treatnt she went through in the past.
"However, I cannot determine whether she will be able to survive this round of treatnt. So her best option right now is to find a match for her bone marrow. Only with a transplant can we guarantee her recovery."
Paul’s explanation fleshed out the pain and suffering that Wendy and the twins had to endure in the past. Michael had never known that Wendy had made such a huge sacrifice just to deliver the twins. He had truly let her down as a husband.
In these few months, he had rely basked in the joy of having Wendy by his side.
Yet, it had never crossed his mind to ask Wendy to share with him what she had gone through in the past few years when he was absent.
If not for what happened to Leah, Michael might never have known the struggles experienced by Wendy and the twins. It was no wonder Wendy hated him so much back then. She hated him to the core. No wonder Jake remains unwilling to forgive him.
"If it’s the bone marrow, isn’t the likelihood of finding a match amongst blood relatives much higher?" Michael was now clutching his pants even tighter.
Pain, regret and guilt weighed heavily upon him. It hurt him to know that his family had suffered so much. He regretted how inhumane he had been, how he had tortured Wendy continuously. He felt the guilt of not being responsible as a father and husband.
...
Imdiately .Jake knew what Michael wanted to say. He wore a solemn expression as he spoke, "Mommy and I have checked. Our bone marrows don’t match."
Michael frowned as he asked, "What does that an? Neither of yours are suitable, or are there other factors to be considered?"
"Leah and I are fraternal twins. In terms of bone marrow compatibility, mine is suitable," Jake sighed as he continued. "But because both Mommy and I were involved in that drowning incident, I actually experienced congenital complications as well. That’s why my bone marrow can’t be used to save Leah.
"Just that when I was in Mommy’s tummy, I was healthier than Leah and absorbed a lot more nutrients than Leah did. That’s why when I pulled through and when I was born, I was fine. But Leah’s body isn’t as strong as mine, that’s how she developed this sickness."
As Jake explained, he fixed his gaze on the floor. He had choked on his words as well. He had always felt that he was the one to bla for his younger sister’s health issues.
If only he had not fought with his sister over the nutrients in Mommy’s tummy, Leah would not be in such poor health and would not be going through so much pain.
So when there was only one antidote available, Jake did not hesitate to give it to Leah.
These things were not conveyed to him deliberately by anyone. He was much younger then. As a child of barely four years of age, Wendy and Todd Lewis had ntioned this in passing while they spoke amongst themselves.
At that point in ti, Wendy and Todd did not think that Jake would be so aware of his surroundings and had not thought much about it. They did not realize that Jake was significantly more intelligent than his peers. He had not understood what these words ant, but he rembered them.
Eventually, he ca to understand the full picture. Michael looked over at Jake, whose little head was bowed. Michael could tell that Jake blad himself for Leah’s plight.
Patting Jake’s head lovingly, he comforted Jake gently, "Jake, this isn’t your fault. No one blas you."
"If not for , Leah would not be in such poor health," Jake responded as tears fell from his eyes uncontrollably.
"You were in Mommy’s tummy then and you didn’t know anything. You couldn’t understand anything. How could you be blad for any of this?"
Michael continued, "If you could choose, I believe you would not have done so. After all, when there was only one antidote, didn’t you give it to Leah? You’ve always treated Leah very well and you’ve been a good older brother to her."
Jake sniffled and wiped his tears dry. He knew that Michael made sense. Yet he could not help but feel guilty at the sight of Leah lying on the hospital bed.
He would think, if Mommy had only carried Leah, then there would not be so many struggles. Michael continued patting Jake’s head soothingly, as though easing the guilt he felt with every gentle stroke.
With a sigh, Michael turned to Paul and asked, "Then can I check whether my bone marrow is compatible? As Leah’s biological father, shouldn’t the chance of compatibility be high? If it is a match, you should be able to use my bone marrow for the transplant."
"Sure, Mr. Lucas, you can try, but we can’t tell if it would be successful," Paul replied.
"Unless it’s identical twins, there is no guarantee of a successful match."
"Let’s get it done imdiately," Michael rose to his feet as he spoke. If his bone marrow was a match, Leah would have hopes of combating this illness.
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