A couple days after the meeting with Brax and Kyle's doctors, things were still pretty bad between them. Once they got home, Ricky had a go at Kyle about letting Brax be his bone marrow donor, despite his brothers getting involved to stop her. She'd done it twice since as well, putting a lot of pressure on Kyle to do something about it. And he did. Kyle had told his doctor that Brax was no longer the donor, and to find another match.
Brax was far from impressed about the decision and had even spoken to Kyle's doctor to try and override the decision. Dr Kent had refused, saying that it was Kyle's decision in the matter, and he would need to agree to it. That's when Brax found out how long the waiting list for a bone marrow donor was, and he had tried everything to get Kyle to change his mind, but nothing was so far.
"What're you doing? Why are your bags here?" Brax frowns, noticing the couple duffel bags.
"I'm moving out." Kyle says.
"No, you can't move out. We can work through this." Brax shakes his head, not wanting Kyle to move out in case something happened and his condition got worse.
"No we can't. It's too much and I can't be around here getting shit off everyone else when I've got enough going on. It's my decision and I've made it. I'll still see you around and I'll only be at the caravan park." Kyle says.
"The caravan park? If I can't convince you to stay because of everything going on here, then at least let me pay for you to stay at the motel. It's a lot better than the caravan park, you'll be warmer, so less likely to catch a cold or something. That wouldn't help things in our case." Brax rambles on, just trying to think of something so Kyle would stay at the house where he could keep a closer eye on him.
"I know what you're trying to do, and I'm sorry Brax, but it won't work. I can't stay here being shouted at, or made to feel bad over you being the only match for me. I'll be fine at the caravan park. Alf's aware of my… leukaemia, and he said he's going to keep checking in on me. I said he didn't need to, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. And don't even think about getting him to keep you updated on me, I know you're going to try." Kyle smirks.
"Okay, I'll try my best." Brax laughs, instantly stopping as Ricky walks in, about to say something to Kyle when Brax steps in. "How about we go for lunch first? It would give us a chance to talk through the next steps in our treatments."
"I'll save our coffee morning for another time." Kyle jokes. "I need to head off, I'll call you later, if you don't turn up anyway."
"Alright, see you later mate." Brax says, Kyle grabbing his bags before walking out. "Happy with yourself?" He glares at Ricky.
"Excuse me?" Ricky glares back.
"I get that you found it tough when I told you I had cancer, but Kyle has leukaemia which is way worse in my opinion. Now he's going to live at the caravan park because he can't deal with you having a go at him all the time, like he doesn't have enough going on as it is! This is my life and I'm the only one who gets to make choices about what I do. If you don't like that, then we need to work out what happens next!" Brax argues.
"You're seriously taking Kyle's side?" Ricky asks.
"Kyle needs me. He needed me to be the bone marrow donor so he could get better but now he's refusing it. I am not getting treatment until Kyle does, and I don't care what that means for me. I will not go through treatment knowing Kyle's condition is just getting worse, I won't do it!"
"You will die before Kyle gets treatment!" Ricky shouts.
"I thought I could rely on you to help me support my brothers through this, but you can't even support Kyle when he's going through this as well. He needed reassurance, not you telling him that he was selfish and was basically murdering me if I was his donor. If I die waiting for Kyle to get another donor, then so be it." Brax says. "You've made it pretty clear what your feelings are about this, so I think it's best we break up for good. I need to be there for Kyle, and also Heath and Casey. They need someone who's going to reassure them, not cause trouble."
"What?" Ricky frowns.
"I don't have the energy to be fighting with you, and I can't even stand to be in the same room as you right now. My main priority right now is finding a bone marrow match for Kyle. The waiting list is months long, so I've got to go looking myself. If he accepted me being the donor like he was going to before all this, I could have gotten treatment in time, but you went and fucked that up for the both of us. If Kyle dies because he didn't get treatment in time, I'll never forgive you. Now pack your stuff up and get out of my house." Brax says before walking out into the garden to get some fresh air.
It wasn't long after Kyle moved out that his condition had started deteriorating. It had gotten to the point where Alf had called both Nate and Brax to check in on him. Nate made it clear that Kyle shouldn't be living at the caravan by himself, despite the regular check-ins from his brothers. But despite all that, Kyle didn't want to move home. He felt like everyone blamed him for Brax not getting treatment, even though there was only one person who did.
"Kyle, you can't stay here! You heard Nate, it's only going to get worse and you need a warmer roof over your head. You're at high risk of catching a cold out here, and that would be enough to basically kill you off!" Heath groans, he wasn't planning on leaving until Kyle agreed to go home with them, he didn't care how long that took.
"I know you didn't want to come home, but we're not leaving you out here when you're getting so sick. You wouldn't have to worry about getting any shit from anyone when you come home, Ricky's moved out. So I'll get your stuff packed up and then we can go." Brax says.
"Just say yes, Kyle." Casey sighs, not wanting to know how much worse Kyle's condition could get. "We're looking for a donor for you, but they won't agree for you to go ahead with treatment if you're weak from sickness."
"Fine, but only cause I'm too tired to argue." Kyle mutters, really not feeling well from these tablets he was on, and the fact that he wasn't getting proper treatment.
"I'll pack your stuff up. Why don't you go and wait in the car?" Brax says.
"Yeah." Kyle lightly nods.
"Here." Casey says, supporting Kyle out to the car.
"How much worse is this going to get?" Heath sighs as they watch their younger brothers walk over to Heath's car.
"I don't plan on it getting worse than this. Kyle needs this bone marrow transplant, and I'm going to give it to him. Maybe I can somehow do it anonymously so Kyle doesn't have to know it's come from me. I'll go and speak to our doctor's once we've got Kyle home. Maybe they'll agree to it." Brax says, not being able to think of anything else.
"That's not a bad plan. I just want all of this to be over. It's way more tough than you can ever imagine." Heath says, hanging his head. "Just make sure you both get past this."
"I plan on it. You've never mentioned that before."
"That's because we weren't seeing the side effects. But seeing Kyle getting so ill like this, it's made it more of a reality." Heath says. "Now let's get Kyle's stuff packed up so we can sort his transplant out." He says.
"You make a start here, I'm going to thank Alf for keeping an eye on Kyle for us, and to also give the keys back." Brax says as he grabs them from the side. "I won't be long." He says as he walks out of the caravan and towards the house.
Later that afternoon, Brax was sitting in the doctor's office, opposite Dr Kent and Dr Glennan. It had taken a lot of persuasion for them to see where he was coming from, but they still weren't keen to agree without Kyle's say on things. Brax's phone had gone off a couple times, and he'd ignored it every time. It wasn't until the door barged open that he wished he did answer the phone to find out what was going on, and how Kyle knew he was here.
"What's this about?" Kyle asks, needing to sit down to catch his breath, Heath and Casey walking in moments later.
"I'm sorry, he found out you were here and took off." Heath says, shutting the door behind them.
"You're not being my donor!" Kyle says as firmly as he could while still trying to catch his breath.
"The donor is best coming from a blood match, and I'm the only person who matched. The sooner you agree to me doing this, the sooner I can get treatment as well. The longer you say no, the longer we both go without treatment." Brax shrugs, it was his final decision and he wasn't going to back down for nothing. "I'm not getting treatment until you get treatment, so either you can stop being so stubborn and let me do this, or you can watch both of us get more ill from this."
"I can't let you do this, you need treatment first!" Kyle moans.
"Kyle, we both understand where you're coming from, but you've got a much better survival rate from your brother than if you were to get an unrelated donor." Dr Kent says, wanting the best for his patient, and so did Dr Glennan. "You'd still be able to start treatment together and be in with great chances of being cured. There's still time."
"What're you so afraid of?" Brax asks, wanting Kyle to agree in front of the doctors so they'd be able to start preparing everything.
"Killing you." Kyle croaks. "What if something happens when you donate your bone marrow that means you can't get treatment and you die but I get to live?"
"That's not going to happen, is it doc?" Brax says, glancing over at him.
"We'll make sure it doesn't." Dr Kent says. "It's a much simpler procedure than people think. If you agree to it today, you could both be in treatment within a week or two. We just need your consent for this to go ahead."
"Just do it, Ky." Heath says, Casey agreeing with them.
"And you're sure that it won't affect Brax's treatment at all?"
"Kyle, there's nothing to be afraid of. So can we start the process now?" Brax asks his brother.
"If anything starts to go wrong, I'm stopping it immediately." Kyle says. "And the doctors will if they see anything go wrong." He says, looking at them.
"So that's a yes?" Casey asks, not being able to work out if it was or not.
"Yes." Kyle sighs.
"We'll start preparing things straight away." Dr Glennan smiles.
As predicted by their doctors, Brax and Kyle started their treatments promptly and it was going great for both of them. They'd always matched their sessions up as Brax wanted to keep an eye on Kyle during his sessions. Heath and Casey went with them sometimes if they could find cover for work, which was harder for Heath as he was minding Angelo's for his brothers while they were off work for treatment.
"What was the appointment you had with Dr Glennan?" Kyle asks as his brother eventually joins him and Heath, who managed to swap his shifts again.
"Just a catch up about my chemo." Brax lightly shrugs, glancing at Heath, who stared at him. "Has Dr Kent been around yet?"
"One of the nurses said he'll be in soon." Kyle replies, noticing no one came in to start Brax's session, like they normally did. "You're in remission." He says, more of a statement than a question.
"What?" Brax frowns, wondering where this had come from.
"That's the third appointment you've had with your doctor in two weeks, and this is the second session that a nurse hasn't come in to start your chemo. Unless there's something else you're not telling me, then I'd say you're now in remission." Kyle explains his reasons as to why he thought that. "So is it true or not?"
"Yeah." Brax lightly nods after a few moments of silence.
"Why wouldn't you tell me something like that?" Kyle frowns. "You've still been coming to everyone one of our treatment sessions knowing you've been cured."
"I still come because you haven't been cured yet. You've still got treatment sessions left and I wasn't going to let you go through that alone." Brax says.
"I wouldn't be alone as Heath's here, and Casey's got my next three sessions off work." Kyle says. "And that doesn't explain why you hid your remission from me."
"I hate knowing that I'm in the last step before being officially cancer free. You might not be there for a long time yet and I didn't want you feeling like you're now alone in this battle. I'm not letting you go through the rest of your treatment alone."
"You know I would never make you feel bad for getting this far. You should be out celebrating, not sitting here watching me throw up or sleep through my treatments." Kyle sighs.
"You can try and get rid of me as much as you want, I'm staying right here." Brax says as Dr Kent comes in.
"Did you know about this?" Kyle asks Heath, who stayed quiet. "Great, so everyone knew but me."
"It's not like that. You were always going to find out, just when you were closer to being in remission as well." Brax says, knowing he was going to have to make it up to his brother somehow.
"Let me guess, you knew Brax was in remission as well?" Kyle asks his doctor.
"I was aware of it, yes. You knew I wouldn't have been able to tell you due to patient confidentiality." Dr Kent replies. "But that doesn't mean you'll be going through the rest of your short journey alone."
"Short journey?" Brax frowns, did this mean what he thought it did?
"I've got the test results back from the other day, and I've got some good news for you." Dr Kent smiles. "You'll be joining your brother in remission sooner than we think. You've still got more treatment to go before it's official, but I'm extremely pleased with how your body is responding to the bone marrow transplant and the immunosuppressants alongside it. You'll need to keep taking the immunosuppressants daily but it's good news. I'll be keeping a closer eye on you and will let you know once you're ready to go into remission."
"That's great news bro!" Heath smiles.
"See, I told you we'd get there, didn't I?" Brax smiles.
"I'm not out of the woods yet." Kyle lightly shrugs, but he couldn't help but smile either. He still had to finish his treatment, but he was so close to being in remission, and that was enough incentive for him to be hopeful about his sessions. This would be great for the whole family, not just him and Brax.