I'll Fight For You - R5 FANFIC

9

Jamie's POV

"My name is Anna. I was visiting family in Florida a few years ago. It was only my 11 year old daughter and I. Her father wasn't in the picture, nor is he now. I was hanging out one day and fainted out of no where. The doctors didn't know what was wrong with me. They did a CT scan to find a mass on my liver. I wasn't worried about myself. I was more worried about what would happen to my daughter. I did research about a cure. I saw that a donation was the best. Turns out, I wasn't a candidate. I went under a resection procedure to remove the tumor. I still have a chance of it coming back. Am I worried? No," Anna shared her story. Anna sat down.

Another women stood up. "I was diagnosed about a month ago. I got told that I had breast cancer. I'm still scared. I moved in with my daughter because my husband works all the time. I'm scared that something can happen to me at any point of the day. I don't really do much anymore. I just eat. Oh, by the way, my name is Hannah." She sat down. I was up next, so I stood up.

"I'm Jamie. I went to a blood drive about a few weeks ago. I gave blood and fainted. They ran tests on me, and I have Leukemia. I'm here because I was diagnosed as depressed. I have two children whom my husband is taking care of because of my depression stage. My doctor thought this would help," I said and sat down.

"Has it?" some guy asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Has it helped?"

"I guess, knowing that I can relate to people," I said. I looked around the room. We all had one thing in common: cancer. It didn't matter where the cancer was in our body. We all had it. We could all relate.

The last women stood up. "I'm Sydney. I went for a check up one day. They found a bruise on my back. It was an odd bruise. They asked me if someone hit me. They asked me if I knew about it. They asked me when it came up. I had no idea. That's when they decided it might be cancer. They ran tests. Sure enough, it was. I moved in with my mom. She's doing so much to help me and other cancer patients," she said. "I don't know if I could do this without her. I looked over at her, and we made eye contact for a few seconds, so I smiled. She smiled back as she sat down. I looked around the room, not making eye contact with anyone particular. It was because I didn't know anyone. I was just looking for movement to see what would be done next.

"Anyone care to talk about something in particular, now?" the guy who was like the leader of the support group, Seth, said.

Hannah raised her hand. "How do you stop the fear?"

"Of-- death?" Seth asked to clarify. Hannah nodded. "I don't think you are fearing death. I think you fear it being soon. I don't think you ever stop wondering when it will come, cancer or no cancer." He looked around and stopped at me. "You're the newest here."

I pointed to myself. "Me?" He nodded slightly.

"So you came for depression?" I nodded slowly. "We all started that way. You said you have children?"

"Two," I replied.

"I've watched many people in the same position as you walk through the door. But they had cancer in different places of their body. I've heard them being told the same thing and it working. It depends on when you start treatment," he said.

I had my appointment to decide when I was going to start my treatment. We decided we would do it in a month. My cancer wasn't at a bad place yet. I could wait for treatment, but I didn't want to wait too long.

"A month."

"Take a vacation. Trust me. You won't be traveling for a long time. Treasure the happiness," he said. "You'll need it for the sadness." He looked around and called on some other people. They were people who came all the time. I could tell by the way the had talked to each other. "Alright! It's time to eat snacks and chit chat with everyone. I have to make a phone call, but I will be back." Seth stood and fixed his pants. He stepped outside.

I stood up. I watched as everyone walked around and went to the table. There were fruits and chips. There was water in a cooler of ice beside the table.

"What kind of chips do they have today?" someone asked behind me. I tried to look, but the table was too crowded.

"Lays? I don't know," I responded. I finally reached the table and only got a water. I ate before I left. I didn't know food was provided. I looked beside me. Sydney was beside me.

"So you were donating blood, and now, you'll be the one needing blood," she said flatly. "Life is weird." I opened my water and took a sip. "I've had some treatment. It sucks being in the hospital. It's the best feeling in the world to be told your cancer is gone. You want to know the worst?"

"Being told your cancer is back," I took a guess.

"Yep," she said. We had moved away from the table. We were close to the exit. "Your treatment is in a month. How did you decide you wanted to be treated?"

"Chemo," I answered.

"That's what I chose. That's a long time without going outside. I suggest your vacation being somewhere outside," she said with genuine care in her voice. She seemed really nice. Seth had walked back in and went around to people. An elder women had followed. She looked familiar. She walked over to us.

"Ready, Syd?" she asked. She took a glance at me and smiled. "Are you the girl from the blood drive? You fainted." I nodded and looked at my feet.

"That was me," I said. I glanced back up. I forced myself to make eye contact.

"You held the door for me and let me have your seat. Very rare for people to do that, for me anyway. Why are you here?" she asked.

"She was diagnosed," Sydney told her. "We both have leukemia."

Everyone here seemed so open.

"I'll pray for you," she said. She had a big smile.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Will you be here next week?" I asked Sydney.

"Yep, will you?" I nodded.

"I'll see you next weekend," her mother said to me. I waved bye. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I texted Riker to see when he would pick me up. He didn't reply, so I called him. I stepped outside when I heard him speak.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Jackson pitched a fit. I had to get him situated," he explained.

"How far away are you?" I asked.

"About five minutes. Everything okay?" he asked. I put my hair behind my ear from the wind.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," I said. I leaned against a pole outside.

I didn't get any sleep last night. Between Jacey being cranky and being nervous about today, I got zero sleep.

"I'm on my way. You can sleep on the way home, but I want to know about everything when we get home," he said. I smiled.

"Okay. I'll see you in a minute. I love you," I said.

"I love you." I hung up. I waited for Riker to arrive as many people left and waved bye to me.

Everyone was so friendly.

A long yawn escaped my mouth as RIker pulled up. I opened the door. "You must really be tired," he said. I nodded and slid into the seat. "The kiddos are too." I buckled up and nodded as I heard what he said. "How'd you like it?" I put my thumb up as my eyes were closing. He pulled off as we headed home.

I fell into a nap.

(a/n- I did use some real cancer patient stories and made some parts up of some. ANNNNNNNND SORRY THAT IT IS SHORT!)