April 15th, 2031
Tim, Lucy, and Bennett had been in Atlanta, Georgia, since March 14th. Bennett had been taking the medication orally everyday, and boy did she hate it. "Please don't make me, Daddy! It's yucky!" Bennett whined, as her parents had her take the medicine, having the same fight they did each day. They hated having to make her take the medicine when she clearly didn't want to, but they had come too far in the trial, and were hopeful it was working to kill the cancer cells.
They had been in Atlanta for about a month, and were slated to stay as long as another month. The trial was broken up into a few separate rounds, Bennett currently being on the second of three total for her trial. Each trial participant would endure a different amount of medication rounds, depending on their case needs. Bennett was one that would only go through three rounds of the medication, and her parents were hopeful.
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Everyday, after Bennett took her medication and had her bloodwork run, Tim and Lucy vowed to make memories while they were there. That day, they took her to the aquarium before she had to be back at the hospital for her weekly MRI. Her parents were ultimately trying to make it up to her for making her take the "yucky" medicine, and Bennett loved the aquarium. Plus, it was a good way to keep their minds off of Bennett's impending MRI. They tried not to stress about the MRI's too much, but their daughter's life was practically on the line with each one. Each MRI could mean the difference in life and death for Bennett, and Tim and Lucy were very aware of that fact.
"Look at the stingray, Mama!" Bennett said, as they stopped in front of the enclosure. "Oh yeah, aren't those just so cool?" Lucy asked, as Bennett nodded her head, excitedly.
Bennett was still able to walk, though it was extremely slow, and not the best, especially with her coordination. This was just a standard effect of DIPG. Soon enough, Tim and Lucy knew that this disease would take away her ability to walk, talk, and many other things she has always been able to do. DIPG was slowly, but surely, stealing every aspect of their daughter from them, and it broke their hearts on a daily basis.
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Tim, Lucy, and Bennett strolled slowly through the aquarium. They took their time as they went through, making sure they were going slow enough for Bennett, while not straining her too much. If it came down to it, Tim was always more than happy to carry her if she needed, or truthfully, wanted him to.
"Daddy," Bennett said, as Tim and Lucy stopped what they were doing, and planted their full attention on their five year old. Their daughter looked at them for a moment, before saying, "My head hurts, Daddy. Really bad."
Tim and Lucy took that as their cue to leave the aquarium for the time being, needing to get her headache medication administered to her. There was always a bit in the bag that her parents made sure to bring with her everywhere they went. Lucy sat the bag down on a chair, before she unzipped it and pulled out the medication that Bennett needed at that moment. She gave the five year old the medicine, before Tim passed Bennett her water bottle, so she could wash it down, and try to get the taste out of her mouth. After Bennett had taken the medicine, she and her parents made their way back to the hospital, which worked out for them, as it was getting close to time for Bennett's MRI.
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Bennett's MRI was set for 2:00 that afternoon, and it actually happened a few minutes earlier than scheduled, which Tim and Lucy wouldn't complain about. The sooner they could get it done, the sooner they could get the results, and the sooner that they could move on with their day.
After her MRI, the family had the same typical waiting period afterwards. When it was time, they made their way back to the office, taking their usual seats. Tim gave Bennett his cellphone, as usual, and the little girl went to occupy herself while her parents discussed the results of her MRI with the doctor.
The doctor entered the room not long after them, with the same gentle knock her oncologist back in Los Angeles had. When he entered, he took a seat across from the parents, before opening Bennett's scan file. "How was it today? Is she making any progress?" Lucy asked the doctor, as the doctor looked up from the file and locked eyes with both of Bennett's parents.
The doctor shook his head, the sadness being rather evident in his eyes and the motion of his head. "Unfortunately, no. Her MRI has shown the opposite of what we were hoping for." He told the parents, as they looked at him, a bit confused. "What do you mean, the 'opposite'?" Tim asked, as the doctor composed himself for a moment, before he answered the man's question.
"Her MRI has shown progression of her tumor. Her tumor has grown, which means that the medicine isn't working." He informed the two of them, as Tim and Lucy's hearts immediately dropped to the bottom of their stomachs. "Is there a different one you can give her? A different dosage? Anything?" Tim asked, practically begging the doctor for something to help their little girl. "In this trial, no. The dose we give children of her size is not something we can change. Giving her too much will hurt her more than it needs to." He told them. "So, what does that mean for her? What do we do now?" Lucy asked, as they awaited the answer, hoping it would be something they wanted to hear.
"For starters, this unfortunately means her trial here has to end. It isn't helping her, and will not benefit her any longer. So, I recommend meeting back with her oncologist, as he may give you a different opinion on the next steps than I will. But, I recommend another round of radiation. From what I've been informed of, the radiation helped her a good bit, so it may help again." He told the parents. Tim and Lucy thanked him for his time, before they checked out and headed back to the hotel they had been staying at.
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A few days later, Tim, Lucy, and Bennett headed to the airport and boarded their plane back home to Los Angeles, and the parents felt completely defeated. What was supposed to help their daughter, has done nothing. Bennett is progressing, which was something her parents never wanted to hear.
If they got home and the radiation didn't work, they knew that they could very well be at the end of the road, and that terrified them. Were they going to lose Bennett sooner than they had imagined?
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This Little Light of Mine
FanfictionTim and Lucy were living their perfect life. Good jobs, a house, and a daughter. Everything was going smoothly, until it wasn't. They receive a diagnosis that turns their world upside down, and their daughter begins the fight to survive. Tim and Luc...
