Childhood Disease
Chapter Eleven: Revelations
Two days had passed since Roy and Joanne had brought Johnny back to their house. In that span of time, Hank, Mike, Marco and Chet had stopped by, already having been informed of what the doctor had said.
All of them were shocked and dismayed that there was nothing left to be done, and each vowed to be there for Johnny should he need anything.
Hearing a tap on his bedroom door, Johnny opened his eyes and watched Roy...his best friend and partner enter the room, slowly crossing over to him with a piece of mail in his hands.
"Johnny I uh...I wanted to show you something. I received this letter in the mail today...it's from a doctor in Virginia. His name is Neal Kassell. He says he would like to see you if you were wanting to travel to Virginia." Roy said, handing Johnny the letter.
Johnny read through the letter and once he was done he realized why Dr. Kassell's name sounded so familiar. He was the doctor who had operated and cured his teratoma the last time. If Dr. Kassell could do it once...he could possibly do it again, right?
"I know what everyone is thinking Roy, but I tell you, I don't want to die. If there is a chance that Dr. Kassell can help, then I'm willing to give it a shot." Johnny replied with a small smile.
Relief swept through Roy's body when Johnny gave the go ahead.
"Great! Everything's been taken care of already, so we won't have to worry about anything. The plane leaves tomorrow morning, so you better get some rest." Roy said.
'Rest...that's just what my mother said...' John thought to himself.
//\\FLASHBACK//\\
"Honey, you better get some rest. You have a busy day tomorrow." Marian said to her son.
She, Craig and John were on a plane bound for Virginia, in the hopes that a young doctor named Neal Kassell could somehow save John's life.
Marian had received a letter from Dr. Kassell's office, requesting to see the boy at the earliest convenience possible. At first Marian had been shocked, then she burst in to tears of joy at this new found hope.
Craig took some convincing because he at first wasn't willing to put John through any more torment, but after learning that the family wouldn't have to pay for anything because some billionaire named Evans was paying for everything, and after seeing John's excited face, he finally relented and now they were all bound for Virginia.
After landing the family was met at the airport by an ambulance which took them to the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The family was given several hours to settle in to their new accommodations before being taken to meet Dr. Kassell.
Entering the doctor's office, Marian and Craig had a seat in the two chairs, while John who was in a wheelchair, sat beside the both of them.
"Did you have a good trip?" Dr. Kassell asked as he settled down in to his chair and placed his feet on his desk.
"Yes, thanks." Craig said, receiving a nod from the doctor.
John smiled as he glanced at his mother, "Mom was scared on the plane."
Hearing that, Dr. Kassell chuckled before asking, "And what about you?"
"Na, they are built to fly, aren't they?" John replied.
Dr. Kassell nodded his head once more in agreement with what John said.
"Indeed they are, young man. Well, as I said in the letter we have developed a new treatment for brain tumors, it's called the Gamma Knife."
"Um, what exactly does that do?" Craig asked, a little intimidated by the title.
"It fires high energy radiation beams directly into the brain. With some tumors, the Gamma Knife can hit the tumor today and the patient can walk out tomorrow, with no need for further radiation treatments." Dr. Kassell replied.
"And...you think you could do this for Craig?" Marian asked, making sure to use her son's alias instead of his real name, since Dr. Kassell didn't know that her husband's name was Craig.
"I certainly hope so. First we'll have to run a series of tests. You will be familiar with most of them. Eye and co ordination tests, brain scans and I need to run an arteriogram because I want to find out if the tumor is feeding off of a blood vessel. If it is we can cut off the blood supply, reduce the size of the tumor so we can use the Gamma Knife." Dr. Kassell said.
"And if it isn't?" Marian asked.
"Well we'll worry about that when we get the results of the tests. Do you have any questions?" Dr. Kassell asked.
John paused, almost as if he were thinking about weather or not he should ask the question or not.
"Do you know that you aren't wearing socks?"
Dr. Kassell smiled a little before he replied, "I never wear socks."
John smiled back at the doctor before shaking his hand, which more or less ended the meeting.
Marian and Craig took John back to his room and stayed with him all night, just to make sure he was alright.
The next morning the tests began. First was an eye exam which Dr. Kassell personally preformed.
Then came the brain scans and finally the ateriogram.
Once the tests were completed, John was taken back to his room to rest and recuperate.
Three hours later the results came in. Instead of calling Marian and the boy to his office, Dr. Kassell went to their room to see them.
"The tumor is not feeding off of a blood vessel and it's far too large to use the Gamma Knife. It's about five centimeters in diameter and the Gamma Knife is only really affective for tumors up to three centimeters. I wish I had seen him sooners." Dr. Kassell said once he had entered the room.
"There must be something you can do! You can't just let him die!"Marian begged.
"I suppose I could operate. If we can reduce the size of the tumor then perhaps we'd be able to use the Gamma Knife later on. But the risks would be..." Dr. Kassell paused.
"The risks would be what?" Marian asked.
"Well I'd say there's about a twenty percent chance that he'd die on the operating table. And, if he didn't die the operation could leave him blind, or deaf, or in a coma." Dr. Kassell said.
"But if it's a success then he'd be cured? Marian asked, studying the doctor's face carefully.
"I wish I could offer you that hope, but I'm afraid I can't. Realistically I'm afraid the most we can offer him is another six to nine months."
"Is there any alternative?" Marian asked.
Dr. Kassell shook his head, "No."
Sighing, Marian lowered her head while Craig shook his head in disbelief, not wanting to put his son through any more.
"Then we have to do it." Marian said.
Craig looked at his wife as if she had grown two heads. "Marian we can't..." he began, but Marian interrupted him by saying, "When would you want to do it, doctor?"
Dr. Kassell looked from Marian to Craig and back. He could tell that Marian was willing, but Craig wasn't, and honestly the doctor didn't blame Craig one bit for being hesitant.
"Well if you decide that you want this procedure then we should do it immediately...tomorrow morning. But I want you to think about it very carefully. Read the consent forms. Think about it...talk about it. Is this a risk that you really want to take?" The doctor said.
//\\END FLASHBACK//\\
With Roy's help Johnny managed to get in to his wheelchair before allowing himself to be pushed down the hall towards Dr. Kassell's office. The flight to Virginia had been a long one and he had only been given that night to rest up from the flight.
"Nervous?" Roy asked as he pushed his partner along.
"No, not really. I'm just tired of it all, that's all." Johnny explained, glancing up at Roy for a moment.
Roy smirked a little, understanding where Johnny was coming from one hundred percent.
The two of them entered a large office with windows looking out on to a big garden. Bookshelves crammed full of books lined the walls and a big, oak desk was in the center of the room. One comfortable looking chair was on the far side of the desk, and two cushioned chairs were on the other side.
Near the bookshelves, a middle aged man stood, a book in hand. Hearing someone enter his office, Dr. Kassell closed the book he had been looking at and turned around.
He didn't recognize the man pushing the wheelchair, but the man in the wheelchair brought back memories to the doctor.
Gesturing to the chairs, Dr. Kassell waited until Johnny was secured and Roy was seated before he sat down in his own chair.
"I don't believe it...Craig Archer! It's been a long time, son!" Dr. Kassell said, not knowing that Johnny had never told anyone his secret.
Roy looked at the doctor, quite confused at his words.
"Uh, doctor Kassell, this is John Gage, not Craig Archer." Roy said, pointing at Johnny.
The doctor however shook his head, "Nope he is Craig Archer, I remember all of my former patients."
Roy looked at Johnny then, hoping that Johnny would tell the doctor that he was wrong, but Johnny was just looking down at the ground.
"Johnny, what's he talking about?" Roy asked.
Sighing, Johnny looked up, first at Roy and then at the doctor.
"Dr. Kassell...my real name is Johnny Gage, though I did go by the name Craig Archer," Johnny looked at Roy, seeing his friend shake his head in disbelief.
"When I was eight years old I developed a teratoma in my brain. My parents put me through several surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation to try and get rid of it. During that time, yes I was working towards breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for the most get-well cards, and yes I did succeed. But the tumor was still on the move, so my parents brought me to Dr. Kassell the first time...he saved me, Roy. You have to understand, my parents gave me an alias so that I could at least have some privacy. They thought that if anyone knew who I really was, I would be a celebrity my whole life and I didn't want that." Johnny said.
"But why didn't you tell me Johnny? I would of kept your secret!" Roy said, still not fully believing Johnny.
"Because, on my parents death bed they begged me never to tell anyone, and I haven't...until now." Johnny replied.
"I apologize John, I didn't know either. However I gather that you have had a relapse of sorts." Dr. Kassell said, drawing Roy and Johnny's attention back to him.
"Yes, it's exactly the same, down the size and speed." Johnny replied with a small shrug.
"Well as before, before we can even think of attacking it, I will need to run some tests tomorrow. You will be familiar with the tests, the eye and co ordination tests and the brain scans and the arteriogram." Dr. Kassell said.
"Yeah...can't say I missed them." Johnny said with a sigh.
He had a feeling that, as before the tumor wouldn't be feeding off of a blood vessel so the doctor would end up having to operate, and truthfully the doctor felt the same way, though he had to make sure.
"Well then, I will see you tomorrow, John." Dr. Kassell said, reaching out and shaking both Roy and Johnny's hands.
The meeting now over, Roy took Johnny back to his room to rest.