Vicky moved to get out of the bed but wasstopped by Jason “How is she? Can we see her?”
“I’m sorry….”
Vicky screamed “NO!! She has to be alright.PLEASE GOD let her be ok!”
Dr. Franks moved quickly to clarify “Mrs.Martin, Angel is in recovery. It will be another forty-five minutesor so before she’ll be ready for you to visit with her.”
“So, then she’s ok?” Jason was anxious to getan answer. He was sorry for Jocelyn but he wanted this nightmare tobe over.
“Honestly, Mr. Rutherford, we are not sure.When Angel was brought into our emergency room she had a collapsedlung, a crushed kidney, and there was extensive trauma to thebrain. We needed to remove the kidney, her other kidney is somewhatdamaged, and we’re doing what we can for the lung. We might need togo back in and repair her kidney after we review the x-rays. She’scurrently on a ventilator. We also believe we’ve managed to findand repair most if not all of the areas of bleeding in her brain.As to be expected, there is extensive swelling. Therefore, we hadto remove a portion of her skull to release the pressure. We won’tknow how much or if there is any brain damage until the swellinggoes down. Once the swelling goes down we will replace the portionof the skull that was removed. That’s one of the reasons why wewill need to keep Angel in an induced coma for a few days.
I wish I could say that was the most pressingproblem that we are facing right now but it is not. Angel lost alot of blood. We need to perform a transfusion within the next24-48 hours. However, we’ve discovered Angel has a very rare bloodtype. She is vel – negative. This blood type is so rare that noneof the blood banks currently have any available.”
Jason held on to Vicky’s hands while theyreceived this news before speaking to Dr. Franks “Well, obviouslymoney isn’t an object. If we can’t find the blood locally I’ll havemy private plane go get it from wherever we can locate this‘vel-negative blood’ and bring it back here.” His parents nodded inagreement.
“That’s part of the problem Mr. Rutherfordwe’ve had our staff run a query for all of the blood banks in NorthAmerica and currently there is none available.”
Vicky spoke up “So, what are you saying Dr.Franks?”
“I’m saying that time is not on our side.Because of the trauma Angel has sustained I’m not sure if she canovercome her injuries without the transfusion. Everyone especiallyblood relatives that Angel has must get tested right away to see ifthey are a match. ”
Vicky took a deep breath and closed her eyesto keep the tears from overflowing. She leaned into Jason and heheld her tightly. “Baby, we’ll find a match. Angel will be okay.She’s strong just like you. Please, believe that.”
“Yes Vicky, we’ll get tested too John and I.Dr. Franks what do we need to do?”
“Vicky took another deep breath and openedher eyes. She was driven by purpose, the purpose of saving herdaughter’s life. “Jason I need to use your cell phone. I have acouple of calls I need to make.”
Chapter 9
The second person Vicky could think to callwas her aunt, Shirley Martin. As far as Vicky knew Aunt Shirley wasthe only blood family she had left after the death of her mother.It had been a long time since they’d talked. It had been years…10years to be exact. Vicky hadn’t spoken to her aunt since the dayshe’d taken her to foster care when she was 15.
She wasn’t even sure how to get in touch withher. However, when Vicky was pregnant with Angel, the closer shegot to her delivery date the more she wanted to feel connected tofamily. She searched for weeks trying to locate her aunt. Vickythought she’d found her and held onto that phone number seeminglylike forever before she worked up the courage to call.
Vicky remembered that day as if it wereyesterday. She’d been living in a run-down studio apartment. It wasdrafty and damp. The only furniture was a couple of milk crates, adirty old sofa someone had thrown out and a second hand bassinetthat Vicky tried to clean up for Angel’s arrival.
The police sirens seemed to go off every 10minutes. When the sirens weren’t blaring there was yelling andcursing from her neighbors on the right and cursing and fightingfrom her neighbors on the left. There seemed to always be some typeof commotion. Vicky finally worked up the nerve to call her aunt’snumber. She didn’t want to bring Angel home to that environment.She hoped her aunt would allow her to stay with her at least forher first 6 weeks.
Her fingers trembled as she dialed thenumber. The phone started ringing. It rang once…‘ring’ Vicky’s heart was inher throat. She could hear it beating. What would she say if heraunt actually picked up the phone? She hadn’t talked to her in 7years. It felt like minutes but it was only seconds before thephone rang a second time. Still, no one picked up. The momentsticked by very slowly before the next ‘Ring’. Vicky held onto the phone so tightly thather fingers were starting to hurt. ‘RING’….with each ring the sound seemed to getlouder. Just when Vicky was about ready to hang up the phone awoman picked up.
“Hello, hello, is anybody there?”
The woman on the other side of the phonesounded like her aunt but Vicky couldn’t speak. Her voice wouldn’twork. What if she wouldn’t help her? Vicky hung up the phone. Thatwas the last time she’d tried to contact her aunt.
Three years later, Vicky still had that phonenumber on that crumpled piece of paper she kept in her wallet. Thistime it didn’t matter how her aunt felt about her. This was aboutAngel. She would do whatever she had to do to get her aunt Shirleyto take the test.
Chapter 10
Vicky knew she needed to make at least onemore call. She needed all the strength she could muster. She had tocall Angel’s father, Ryan Carter. Vicky needed to make this callalone. “Jason, can you go and check with Dr. Franks to
