Once Upon a Wish by Rachelle Sparks Read Free Book Online

leaving soon, and though filled with hope and faith that Tatum would continue to recover until she was well enough to meetTinkerbell, the quiet of the night, the moon’s glow on her daughter’s tired face, made everything real.
    “She’s alive,” David reminded his wife with a playful grin. “She’s been clinging to life. We’ve come this far. She’s going to get better. Just give it some time.”
    “I know,” Sherry said through cries. “It’s just so hard to see her this way.”
    “I know,” David assured her. “But things will only get better from here.”
   9   
    Back at Give Kids The World Village, Sherry continued writing in her journal.
    I find myself feeling angry at the idea of Tatum suffering anymore. She looks panicked at the idea of going back to the hospital and stressed about the idea of knowing what to expect. She almost knows too much now. I watch her sleep and I just cry. I’m so thankful she’s still alive and that we’re still a whole family. I think we’re still in shock at all that’s happened, and we feel so uncertain about our future.
    They had lived the past week worry-free, doctor-free, and carefree. It was the first time in nine months that they felt like a “normal” family again. After Tatum’s transplant surgery, the roller-coaster ride doctors predicted was scarier and more intense than anything they ever could have imagined.
    Her body’s rejection of its new liver three different times, a severe
C. difficile
infection that resulted in damage to her digestive tract, and a constant battle to regulate meds and keep her body from rejectingthe liver once again, were the deepest dips; exhilarating climbs came only from rare days spent between hospital stays.
    With physical and occupational therapy, Tatum relearned to breathe on her own, swallow, and walk, and when she was discharged from the hospital after her transplant surgery, her first-grade education continued at home, where she was able to be until her health declined and she was readmitted to the hospital again.
    After eight months of that terrifying ride, spending more time in hospital rooms than at home, Tatum and her family were finally able to start thinking about taking this trip to Florida—a trip they had to cancel once before when Tatum’s health had made yet another turn for the worse.
    This trip was supposed to be the beginning of their happily ever after. It was everything Tatum and her parents needed after what they had gone through, and it was the greatest blessing of their lives. As a family, they had escaped death, stepped off the roller coaster that tested their endurance, proved their determination, and landed safely on solid ground.
    The lump Tatum had found under her armpit shook that solid ground, opening an abyss to the unknown yet again. After her transplant surgery, doctors had warned Sherry and David that post-transplant cancer was always a possibility—not likely, but a possibility. Sherry had told Tatum that the lump was probably a clogged sweat gland, but she knew in her gut, in the deepest part of her soul, that it was cancer.
    Letting the pain Sherry felt drip from her face onto the pages, she continued writing in her journal and ended with a written prayer.
    Dear God, protect Tatum’s health and her liver. Bring Hannah peace and a sense of security. Thank you for this trip and the healing it has brought to our family.
    They left the fairy tale they had been living in Florida and returned home to Dallas, where they scheduled an appointment immediately at Children’s Hospital to get the lump checked out.
    A few days later, on their drive to see Dr. Mittal at Children’s, Sherry wondered what she would fix for dinner that night; it was the only worry she felt she could handle. She pushed the possibility of Tatum getting admitted to the hospital out of her mind, letting herself focus only on the fun and freedom she and her family had just experienced at Give Kids The World Village.