Just A Little Bickering {Styles Twins}

Before: Part Two

I suppose Hayden has always had a bit of talent that was never really like mine. His talent was the way he cared so much for people. His talent was the way he made everyone around him feel so special. He made me feel special. I suppose that's the beauty in it all; Hayden's talent, far unlike mine, was worth far more than anyone could have ever realized.

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When the twins were eleven, the Styles family was given heartbreaking news. Oliver, who they had been calling Ollie since near birth, was diagnosed with cancer. It wasn't necessarily unexpected; he had been ill for some time. Ollie was always throwing up or feeling nauseous, slept far too much, and eventually stopped wanting to eat. It was worrying, of course, but by the time they took Ollie to the doctor, the cancer that had started as a tumor in one of his kidneys had spread throughout his body. Ollie, a child with bright green eyes that were filled with so much ambition and adventure, would not make it to his sixth birthday.

It was difficult. Ollie's medical bills continued to pile up, but the family simply refused to give up because of that. They took out loans, borrowed money from friends and family members; they did everything they could to keep Ollie going. No matter how much money they collected, however, that didn't bring them kidneys to replace those that Ollie lost. Early on, the kidney that had initially grown the tumor was removed, as the tumor was far to extensive to even begin to remove without detrimentally harming the organ anyways. Eventually his other kidney also fell into decay, and they had no choice but to remove it as well, leaving the now tiny, fragile child completely dependent on machines to clean his blood.

It didn't work. Ollie hardly responded to any efforts made to artificially clean his blood, a rare but not unheard of reaction. He needed a transplanted kidney quickly, although chemotherapy would most likely destroy it.

One week before Ollie's sixth birthday, they got the call that not only would Ollie be receiving a kidney, he would be getting two. No one else young enough within transporting distance matched the kidneys, meaning that if Ollie didn't get both, one would would simply be thrown away. As Ollie had a high chance of rejecting the transplant, they decided to merely give him both. It was risky, but Ollie was deteriorating rapidly. He would die within weeks without the procedure.

He made it to his sixth birthday, and by his seventh, his body was free of cancer.

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