A couple of weeks after Matt's knee injury, he came home to find Julie with a concerned look on her face. She told him they needed to talk. As they obviously spoke quite often, there was nothing unusual about this. But this conversation would be the beginning of the worst twenty-four hours of Matt's entire life.

Julie said, "Matt, I think something's wrong with Lexi."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know she hasn't been acting like herself lately."

Matt told Julie, "How does her breathing sound?" That was the usual health question involving Landon and Lexi, as they both had CF.

Julie said, "Her breathing seems all right, but... I can't put my finger on it, but I just think something's wrong."

Matt walked over to the couch where Lexi was sitting and watching SpongeBob Squarepants and asked her, "Lexi, how are you feeling?"

Lexi said, "I feel yucky."

Matt said, "Oh, you feel yucky, do you?"

Julie asked, "Do you think we should check her vitals?"

"Sure," said Matt, getting out some of their medical paraphernalia. The first thing they used was the pulse-ox monitor.

"What're her oxygen sat levels?" asked Julie.

"96."

"Hmm. That's good, but not great. What about her heart rate?"

Matt checked and said, "Eighty-two."

"Okay," said Julie. "Does she feel feverish?"

Matt put his hand on Lexi's forehead and said, "She does feel a little warm."

"Let's check her temperature."

Matt got out the thermometer and placed it under Lexi's tongue. Beep, beep, beep.

"What is it?" asked Julie.

Matt looked and said, "She has a slight fever. Her temperature is 100.3."

Looking back, Matt realized that he should have called the doctor right then. But since Lexi's fever wasn't too high, and she didn't seem congested, which was unusual but good, so he decided not to call the doctor.

"Okay, Lexi," said Julie, "I'm going to put you to bed so you can rest, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," said Lexi.

While Lexi rested, Matt, Julie, Lily and Landon ate dinner. Lily and Landon talked continuously about their days at school, but Matt and Julie had little to say, as they were both concerned that there could be something seriously wrong with Lexi. Although they tried to get that thought out of their minds and convince themselves it was minor, it was still there.

During the night, Julie would periodically get up to check on Lexi. Around two o' clock in the morning, Julie went to check on her and realized that she seemed out of it.

"Lexi, are you okay?" asked Julie.

Lexi briefly opened her eyes and said, "Mommy. Hot."

Julie felt Lexi's forehead. She was really burning up.

"Matt!" screamed Julie. "Matt!"

Matt, still half-asleep, mumbled, "What is it?"

"Lexi's fever is up."

"We'll take her to the doctor in the morning."

"It's way up. And she seemed to be really out of it. It was like she was semi-concious."

Matt was now fully awake and said, "Call 911."

After Julie called 911 and explained the situation, she quickly got their neighbor to stay with Lily and Landon. While they were waiting for the ambulance, Julie told Lily and Landon what was going on.

"Is Lexi going to be okay?" asked Lily.

"I don't know," said Julie as the ambulance came.

"She's going to be okay, right?" asked Landon. "She can't die, right?"

"I told you, I don't know," said Julie.

"You have to know. You're the mommy," said Landon.

Soon, Lexi was loaded into the ambulance. The paramedics checked her temperature and discovered that it had shot up to a critical, life threatening 105 degrees.

The medics continued to talk to Lexi to try to keep her awake, as she was only semi-concious. Matt got a sinking feeling and a part of him thought, This is it. Lexi is going to die.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Lexi was immediately taken in for a chest X-ray. It was clear, though, that time was critical. Lexi was fading and fading fast. The chest X-ray results soon came in. The doctor said, "Surprisingly, Lexi does not have pneumonia. There is no evidence of lung infection."

Matt asked, "Then what's the problem?"

The doctor said, "Lexi's chest X-ray also showed a kind of 'water bottle' around her heart. She is showing symptoms of cardiac tamponade-heart compression."

"With what?" asked Julie.

"Fluid. Probably due to some kind of infection."

"I don't understand," said Matt. "How could this have happened?"

"Our records show that Lexi had pneumonia a couple of weeks ago, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Well, I think, by some fluke, she developed a secondary cardiac infection. What we're going to do is put a needle in her chest to create a small hole in her pericardium to act as a drain and allow the fluid to escape. Once the fluid is gone, her heart will be decompressed and she should stabilize."

Although the doctor's demeanor was comforting, Matt and Julie both knew that Lexi's life hung in the balance. Matt went outside for a minute to call both Landry and Jason while Julie called her family.

Matt said to both Landry and Jason, "We have a real problem. I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't know if Lexi's going to make it."

Landry was at a loss for words and Jason could only say, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Matt went back in the hospital and just said, "Lexi, come on. Please don't die. Please, please don't die. Please!"

After what seemed like a long time, the doctor came back out.

"Mr. and Mrs. Saracen?"

Matt and Julie said, "Yes."

The doctor said, "Lexi's pericardium was incredibly infected and inflamed. The needle could not get in. We tried, but-"

Matt gasped and Julie burst into tears.

The doctor continued, "We had to make an incision and cut Lexi's pericardium open to allow the fluid to escape. Her heart is decompressed and she is now stable."

Matt and Julie both immediately calmed down. They knew that at least Lexi was still alive.

"Can we see her?" asked Matt.

"Yes," said the doctor. "She hasn't woken up yet-she appears to be in a coma, as the anesthesia should have worn off by now- but she is stable.'

"Why is she in a coma?" asked Julie.

"I'm not completely sure. But I think the high fever is probably why," said the doctor, as he led them to Lexi's room.

Matt and Julie saw Lexi in her bed. If they looked just at her face and not at the huge bandage on her chest, it looked like she was peacefully sleeping. Matt held her hand and just said, "Lexi."

Julie held Lexi's other hand and said, "Poor thing. It seems like she's giving up."

Matt told Julie, "We can't make Lexi want to live. She has to do that on her own." He looked at his daughter and said, "Lexi, come on. You're a Saracen. Saracens don't give up. You didn't give up four years ago and you shouldn't give up now.'

Matt and Julie just stood there in the hospital room, hoping that, in due time, Lexi would come back to them.