*Here is my new Roman story. I hope that you enjoy it and that you like it.*

My name is Madden Thomas and I am a 30 year old single mother to an 8 year old little girl named Gatsby and a 6 year old little girl named Amari living on the outskirts of Philadelphia, PA with my older sister and her husband. I used to work as a pediatric nurse in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia but after certain events in my life I had to resign from my job to take care of my children, take care of my 6 year old daughter Amari who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma just over a year ago. Amari had been feeling exhausted and more tired than usual and she was starting to lose her appetite. She was running a fever and began to get bad headaches that wouldn't go away with Tylenol or any other children's medicine. I couldn't bring her fever down and make it go away being a pediatric nurse I knew something was wrong with my baby girl. I knew something was off with her. I had taken to her to numerous doctors but every one of the doctors believed that it was just a virus in her system that needed to run its course. They believed that with some antibiotics the fever would go away, the headaches would disappear but still I knew something more was wrong. I fought and fought to be heard but no one believed me and told me I was overreacting when it came to her fever and headaches. They gave her medicine to cure her headaches but it didn't help, her fever never subsided and after different antibiotics I noticed her stomach was starting to swell, it was abnormally large for a child that barely ate more than a piece of bread for all three meals a day. Amari began to complain of bone pain in her hip area and the top of her legs. I knew I needed to fight harder for my daughter.

After months of being told my child just had a virus in her system that could be cured with an antibiotic I found that one doctor, Dr. Anderson the man that has been working hard to save my baby's life and the man I owe it all to. I took Amari to see Dr. Anderson with her symptoms and explained all my experiences with previous doctors and explained Amari's old symptoms and her new symptoms. He ran some tests, did ultrasounds on her stomach where he found the mass in her abdomen growing at a very large rate that turned out to be a cluster of cancer cells that grew out of control that bunched together and not only that but the cancer had begun to spread throughout her body, it was starting to affect her bones which was the general cause of the headaches and the cancer cells growing out of control resulted in the fever as her body was trying to fight the infection that no one took the time to find except Dr. Anderson. My baby was 5 years old and diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in a very advance stage making her survival rate a lot lower than we would like but if it had been caught earlier it wouldn't have advanced as badly has it had. It was the hardest day of my life, the hardest words I thought I would ever hear in my life that my child could possibly die from a disease that was trying to control her body. I chose to be positive, to be strong for Amari. Within 48 hours of her diagnosis she was in surgery to have the mass removed from her abdomen and within a couple weeks she had begun radiation to kill the cancer cells left in her body but after months and months of radiation it wasn't killing the cells like Dr. Anderson had wished so a few months ago Amari began her chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells in her body. It's been a really long road and the hardest year of our lives in and out of the hospital, bi-weekly chemotherapy sessions, preventing Amari from getting sick and homeschooling her because her immune system is too weak to be around other children in school putting her at risk to get very sick. Life over the last year hasn't been easy. I made so many sacrifices for Amari, I quit my job, sold my house that I once shared with my late husband; Wyatt, who died while he was overseas defending our country when our children were just 6 and 4 years old so just a year after his death and things getting back to normal as normal as they can be after your children lose their father and you lose the man you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with our baby girl got her diagnosis. It's not easy to do it alone but thankfully my older sister Mackenzie stood up and allowed us to move in with her so we had a place to stay. It's been tougher than I ever imagined.

I'm sitting in the cancer ward of the Children's hospital with Amari as she's getting her bi-weekly chemotherapy treatment as she plays on her tablet as I am sitting on my phone just praying and hoping these sessions come to an end soon and her cancer is gone. It's been my hope for over a year but she handles it well and she is the strongest little girl I know. She lets out a laugh and I look at her with a smile, "What's so funny?" I ask.

"This cartoon," she says with a smile. "It is so funny these babies really crack me up," she says talking about the Rugrats cartoon she found on Hulu.

"It is pretty funny isn't it? I used to watch that when I was a little girl about your age it was my favorite cartoon."

"It's funny," she says going back to watch it as I go back to trying to do some Christmas shopping for the girls as Christmas is just a few weeks away. It is going to be a tough year for us this year with me not working and medical bills piling up. I have to use whatever money I have left from when Wyatt passed away and the money in our old savings account to make Christmas a little bit enjoyable for them.

"Amari, what do you want for Christmas this year?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says looking at me with her large dark brown eyes. "For my cancer to be gone," she shrugs. "I want to be better."

"I don't know if I can make that happen, Mari," I say. "God can when he's ready," I say.

"I guess," she says. "Can Santa?"

"God has more power than Santa, Mari," I say, "but we can keep praying for a miracle. Keep praying for healing."

"I know, mommy," she says as she looks at me with those beautiful dark eyes missing her usual long eyelashes. Because of the high doses of chemo she lost all her dark beautiful curly hair she inherited from her father and her beautiful long eyelashes and even her eyebrows. I hope to one day see her back with those eyelashes and her beautiful hair, to see her healthy again and a normal child again. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mari," I say with a smile.

A couple of hours later her chemo session comes to an end. I pack up her bag before she changes into her street clothes so we can go back home so she can rest for the next few days because every treatment takes a lot out of her and she needs a couple days to feel better. It's my least favorite time of the week. "Ms. Thomas," says one of the nurses.

"Stacy, you don't have to call me Ms. Thomas, you can call me Madden," I say. "What's wrong?"

"Dr. Anderson would like to talk to you privately for a moment. I can keep an eye on Amari for you," she says.

"Is this good or bad?" I ask.

"You know I don't have the answers that you want," she says. "Only Dr. Anderson has the answers you need. I promise Amari will be fine."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm sure," she says, "you can head to his office."

"I will be right back, Stacy. Amari, I will be right back okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," she says as she takes a seat with her tablet.

I take a deep breath as I make my way to Dr. Anderson's office feeling more nervous than I have in my life. I feel my stomach fill with butterflies and flutters as I knock on the door. "Come in," he calls.

I open the door and see him sitting at his desk, "hello, Dr. Anderson, you wanted to see me?" I ask.

"Yes, Madden," he says, "please come in and have a seat." I walk in and take a seat across from his desk. Dr. Anderson is a middle aged man probably about 45 years old with dark hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen in my life. He's not bad looking for his age at all, in fact I find him to be quite handsome. "So it's been about 4 months since Amari began her chemo treatments," he begins, "and they seem to be working well. Her cancer cells are decreasing so she is doing pretty well with the chemotherapy and while I would like to continue chemo for a month or maybe two to finish killing what's left of her cancer cells so we are looking at 2 or 4 more rounds of chemotherapy. I know it's been a tough road but I am starting to see the end of the road. Her body is responding very well to the treatments and I know it hasn't been easy to see her fight this but there is hope, Madden that the cancer is going to be gone and she will be in remission."

"Thank God," I say. "That's a relief and great news to hear especially as we are getting closer to Christmas."

"It is a wonderful time of year for her to be cancer free," he smiles. "That being said, we need to look at the next step in her treatments after the chemo is done."

"There's more after chemo?" I ask nervously.

"Yes there's more and this may be the hardest part of her treatment based on her ethnicity and her blood type is very rare. We discussed this."

"Okay," I say. "So what's next?"

"Well, due to the cancer and the chemotherapy her stem cells and bone marrow have been severely damaged and she's going to need to undergo a bone marrow and stem cell transplant to replace what was damaged," he says, "but like we discussed her ethnicity and blood type make it very complicated to find a donor. You and your older daughter have both been tested and neither of you are a match. Neither is your older sister so we are going to need to look in the database to see what we can find and we do not have any matches for her to have this transplant. We have searched in the entire state of Pennsylvania and there is no match for her. We have even searched the US and we have not found a match yet but that doesn't mean we can't we just need to wait and hope that we find a match so we can make this transplant possible."

"Could she die if we don't find a donor?"

"She can become very ill and with that the cancer cells could return back," he says, "so we are working the hardest we can to find her a match but with her ethnicity it's difficult," he says. "She's a Pacific Islander and that's a complicated match to find."

"I understand," I say with tears in my eyes. Their father is from Hawaii but being in the military he relocated several times and we met in Pennsylvania while he was stationed here but he is part Samoan and part Hawaiian. So of course it would be difficult to find a match for Amari there aren't too many pacific islanders in the US. Wyatt's own family wouldn't even get tested but then again they never really cared for me or our children. I hadn't spoken to them from the time Wyatt and I started dating until his funeral and even now they are not active in my life or my children's lives. I just feel defeated we have come so far, fought so hard to hit this roadblock. It doesn't seem fair. Not at all, after talking to Dr. Anderson I took Amari home and just cried, prayed that we would find a match it is unlikely but it is still possible as all things are possible through God.

MEANWHILE IN TAMPA:

My name is Roman Reigns to the WWE Universe but behind the façade of my character on TV I am just a regular guy named Joe, maybe not that regular but I try to lead a regular life. I kept a secret from the world and the only ones that know my secret is my ex-wife and my family no one else in the world knows about it. I am a 33 year old man that has been in remission from leukemia for over 11 years. 11 years ago was a tough time in my life, tougher than I ever expected. I had finished college was expecting to just go on to live a normal life, live my football dream in the NFL but then I got my diagnosis of leukemia and cancer can take a lot away from your life. It took my job, it took my health and my peace of mind. It took a lot from me. I was a young kid trying to fight to stay alive but manage to get myself into remission very quickly, quicker than most but nonetheless it happened so quickly but not before taking things away from my life. It was a struggle but eventually I got my life back together and while my football dream was over my dream to be in the WWE was just beginning. I have been a wrestler for the last 10 years of my life starting at the bottom and making my way to the top sitting as the WWE champion right now and I do everything in my life to give back in every aspect. I donate money to many different charities, I grant wishes to sick children, I visit children with cancer in the hospital and spend a good part of my life donating today is no different as I walk into a clinic here in Tampa for a drive to donate blood marrow to someone fighting cancer. I had my life saved once I want to save someone's life maybe multiple lives. "Joe," I am called back to have the procedure done which involves removing some bone marrow from my hip. "So you're interested in donating bone marrow today?" asks the nurse.

"Yes," I say. "I want to try to save someone's life. I have been in remission for over 11 years and I want to give back, save someone's life give them another chance at life and I know people of my ethnicity have trouble finding a match so maybe there is that one child out there or that one man or woman out there that is depending on this bone marrow match."

"That is a true fact it is a lot harder to find a match for your ethnicity than others," she says. "I'm glad that you're willing to donate but before you do I need you to answer some questions for me."

"Okay," I say.

"If you are a match to someone and you donate your bone marrow do you want to remain anonymous never having contact with the recipient or would you like contact with the recipient anonymously and then after a year meeting the recipient?"

"I would like to meet the recipient after a year," I say.

"All right," she says as she continues on asking me questions and before I know it I am having the procedure to have my bone marrow donated to someone that needs it. I walk out of the clinic hoping that I can change a life, save a life so all I can do is wait and hope to be a match to someone out there.

TWO WEEKS LATER:

Amari and I walk into the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for her chemotherapy treatment. We make our way to the oncology floor and before they hook her up for her two hours of treatment Dr. Anderson requests for us to be in his office. "Good morning, Madden," he says with a smile on his face.

"Good morning," I say with a smile.

"And Amari, good morning," he says, "how are you?"

"I'm good," she says with a smile.

"Are you ready for Santa Claus to come visit you?" he asks, "you know Christmas is just a couple weeks away."

"I know," she says. "I can't wait. I hope he brings me what I asked for."

"I'm sure he's going to try his best," he says. "You have been a very good girl all year long haven't you?"

"I had some bad days but I have been good," she says with a smile as she holds my hand.

"Sometimes we all have bad days," he says. "He doesn't expect us to be perfect."

"Just like God," she says, "God doesn't expect us to be perfect either and he forgives us."

"That he does," he says. "So are you ready for your treatment today?" he asks.

"I guess," she shrugs. "I don't want to be sick anymore."

"I know you don't, Amari," he says, "but you know what. I talked to your mommy last time and you know what I saw?" he asks.

"What?"

"The chemo is killing all those cancer monsters in your body. They are almost completely gone and you should be just about done with your chemotherapy. I want to do some tests today before we begin today and then we will know accurately how many more treatments you'll need."

"Okay," she says with a smile. He is amazing with her and all the nurses are amazing with her. A few nurses were my friends before because of working here but they have become like family to us and to Amari.

Dr. Anderson runs some tests on Amari before she's hooked up for her chemo session another grueling two hours and they aren't even the hardest it's the days that follow when she's throwing up in the bucket, sleeping nearly all day and nauseous that are the hardest. I just hate seeing my baby sick. We play some games while she gets her treatment and we do some coloring as well as her making some Christmas cards for her sister and some of the friends she has made in the hospital and for her Aunt Kenzie and Uncle Ted. I help her with the glue and glitter as she works. Before we know it the session is over and we are packing things up again ready to meet with Dr. Anderson once more before we leave.

"Well, there's my favorite patient," he says with a smile as we walk into the office. "How was your session?"

"It was okay," she says with a shrug.

"Well, how would you feel if I told you that you only needed ONE more treatment? Would you be excited?"

"YES!" she screams.

"Well, after looking at the results of your tests I saw very few cancer cells meaning just one more round of chemo should kill them off completely," he says as tears burn my eyes.

"You mean I'm not going to be sick anymore?"

"Once they are gone you shouldn't be," he says, "but there is one more thing we need to do with you."

"What's that?" she asks.

"Well, we are going to replace something called bone marrow and stem cells in your body because your stem cells and bone marrow were ruined by the bad cancer cells and the chemotherapy so we need to replace it. It's just going to be a little procedure to make you completely healthy again," he says, "and I thought we could go ahead and do the transplant after your last chemo treatment."

"I thought that you couldn't find a match?" I ask.

"That's something else I wanted to talk about," he says with a smile. "We found a match! It just happened about a week and a half ago it came into the database and we caught it. It is the perfect match for Amari, the blood type and everything. I would say that the donor is probably of Pacific Islander descent for it to be a match."

"You mean we have a donor? My baby can get the transplant in two weeks?" I ask with tears burning my eyes.

"Yes, Madden," he says, "we have a match, we have a donor."

"Thank God!" I say with tears of happiness in my eyes. "Amari, you have a donor!" I say with excitement as I pick her up and hold her in my arms, kissing her cheek a thousand times and holding her tight. "You're going to get better," I say, "you're going to be healthy again," I say with tears in my eyes as she wraps her arms around me and cries her own tears of happiness.

"The only thing is," he says, "she will be in the hospital over Christmas."

"I don't care, she's getting her transplant and her last round of chemo. We can celebrate Christmas here my baby is going to be healthy. That's all that matters," I say as I hold her tight as we cry together both of us excited over the news. It is the news I have been hoping for since she was 5 years old and diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Anything is and everything is possible in this life with a little bit of faith and hope. "Thank-you," I mouth to God as I hold my baby tight ready to tell the news to my family.

*A/N: What do you think? Is it a keeper? Please review and thanks for reading!