Four days later, Matt and Julie went to the doctor to hear the results of the sweat tests on Landon. Even though Julie was still recovering from her C-section, she insisted on being there when they heard the results.

The doctor led them into a small room in back. Matt was thinking, Something is wrong. This isn't going to be good.

The doctor said, "How is Landon?"

Julie said, "He's good. He is definitely beginning the Terrible Twos, though, according to Matt, and he won't be two for a couple more months."

The doctor smiled and said, "Good. Well, I'll tell you the results straight up. The tests showed that Landon's sweat is full of something called chloride. There was a lot of it. We think Landon has a lung-digestive disease called cystic fibrosis."

Matt and Julie looked at each other and thought, What in the world is cystic fibrosis?

Matt asked, "What causes this disease, and how do we fix Landon?"

The doctor said, "Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disorder, and at the present time, there is not a cure. Patients typically have excessive mucus secretions that result in repeated, frequent respiratory infections, namely pneumonia. Patients also have trouble absorbing food due to low pancreatic function, leading to them not being able to put on weight easily." The doctor then added, "Cystic fibrosis reduces lifespan greatly Most patients die in their twenties or thirties from cardiorespiratory failure. And Landon will eventually need a double lung transplant."

Julie burst into tears.

Matt was silent and then asked, "Is there a chance our two daughters have this disease, too?"

The doctor said, "Yes. When both parents carry the recessive gene, and you apparently both do, each child has a one in four chance of having it."

Matt said, "Oh, God," and burst into tears himself. As they left, the doctor said, "I'm so sorry."

Matt could hardly drive home because the tears were blurring his vision. This was the worst day of his life by far. Even his own illness wasn't as bad as this. One-maybe all-of his children had a serious disease for which there was no cure. Julie told Matt to pull over so he wouldn't have an accident, but Matt continued to drive so he could get home and hug Landon.

When Matt got home, the first person he saw was Lily. Lily saw him crying and said, "What's wrong, Daddy?" This made Matt cry even harder, because he had no idea how to tell this to an almost-five-year-old.

Lily hugged Matt and said, "Daddy, it's okay. I'm here. It's okay."

As Lily comforted him, Matt thought, Lily doesn't know that everything's not okay. Our lives are never going to be the same.