Doctor Noonan-Martin, Miracle Worker? - 3. It's A Miracle To Find A New Life

In the darkest hours
Alone with all your fears
All you can think of are those happy days
So much we take for granted
But life's a fragile thing these days
When the time is up all you're hoping for

You're hoping for
Is a miracle (a miracle) to see the daylight
A miracle the sky so blue
It's a miracle (a miracle)
To find a new life a miracle
To be back with you!

Scorpions - 2009

7

Tuesday came and went. Colin and his family were anxious to hear what news his doctor may have. The phone rang in the Martin's residence late Wednesday afternoon.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Mrs. Martin?"

"Yes."

"This is Yasmine Vargas at Doctor Dunne's office."

"Hi Yasmine. We've been anxiously awaiting a call."

"Yes, I apologize for the delay. It seems there was a mix-up with Colin's labs. Apparently, they got mixed up with another patient's. We'll need you to bring him back in."

"I don't understand. How could that happen?"

"We're not sure, Mrs. Martin. But the results the lab sent can't be right."

"What was wrong with them?"

"Well, since they're obviously another patient's, I can't say, due to privacy issues. Would you be able to bring him back in tomorrow morning?"

"Of course. Can you give me a clue? I mean, if you don't know which patient they belong to, how can you be breaking their privacy?"

"Hold on a moment."

It was an interminable moment for Emma.

"Mrs. Martin?"

"Yes, I'm still here."

"You were right, I checked, and it won't break any privacy rules. The results we got from the lab are from an unknown healthy boy."

Almost under her breath, "Oh, my God. It worked."

"I'm sorry?"

"Never mind. Yes, we'll be there tomorrow morning."

"Thank you. And our sincere apologies for the mix-up. We'll be checking his labs on-site this time. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Emma sat down, absolutely dumbfounded. She hoped beyond hope that there really wasn't a mix-up.

"Colin! Can you come out here?"

Colin came into the kitchen.

"What's up?"

"The doctor's office just called."

Obviously excited, "What did they say?"

"They want you to come back in tomorrow to run the labs again. They think there was a mix-up."

Excitement gone, "Oh."

"They think there was a mix-up because they think the results were taken from a healthy boy."

"What? No fucking way!"

"I'll let that slide this time."

"Omigod, omigod, omigod. I gotta call Mads."

"Yes, you should. But while there's still a chance there really was a mix-up, try not to be too excited."

He said, "Impossible," but thought, 'Not a fucking chance!'

Colin returned to his room, picking up his cell phone and calling Mads.

"Hi Colin. Have you heard something?"

Tempering his excitement to make it more of a surprise, "Yeah, they think there was a mix-up with the lab. I have to go back in tomorrow to get retested."

"Shit. That sucks."

"They think it was a mix-up because the results were for a healthy boy!"

"Really?"

"Yes. I can't believe it. Mom says not to get too excited because it may still be a mix-up."

"Fuck that. It worked. It fucking worked."

"Mads! I've never heard you say that."

"It's a special occasion."

"I know, I pretty much thought the same thing when she said that."

They spoke for a while longer, both indicating they'd ask their parents for another get together. This time to celebrate the good news.

8

Emma took Colin back to his doctor's on Thursday morning. The lab work was done, then they were asked to stay, so the doctor could go over the results sooner than usual. It took another hour and a half after Colin's blood was drawn before they were taken to an exam room.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Christian Dunne knocked and came into the exam room, "Good morning, Colin, Mrs. Martin."

They both returned the greeting.

"I'm so sorry about the mix-up with his initial lab work. I felt it would be a good idea to give you an update immediately due to that."

Emma responded, "That's nice of you."

"Okay. Let's take a look at what we have..."

He was quiet for a few moments, scrolling up and down on his tablet, with a look on his face that could only be described as perplexed.

"This can't be right. But it can't be wrong either, the labs were processed here."

"What is it?"

"The new labs agree with what we received from the external lab. They're from a healthy, if not slightly anemic, person."

"Does that mean..."

"The only explanation I have for such a change in the three months from his last checkup, is spontaneous remission. And that... Well, to be perfectly honest, with his condition, should be impossible."

Colin asked, "But the blood work can't lie, right?"

"No. It can't. I... I'm sorry, but we're going to have to do a full workup. We'll need a bone marrow biopsy, an MRI, CT scan, X-rays, ultrasounds, and a PET scan. I... I'm just completely baffled."

"Do we really have to put him through all that?"

"Well, to find out why, if we can, yes. But the bone marrow biopsy would be sufficient to determine that the Leukemia is really in remission."

"Let's start there and hold off on the rest until you see the results of that, would that be okay?"

"Yes. That would be first anyway, we can do that here in the office, the rest would have to be done elsewhere, a hospital would be the most convenient, so all of it can be scheduled together."

"Is it okay to wait for the biopsy results before scheduling all of that?"

"Yes. If what these labs say is true, those tests could only help us determine why the Leukemia apparently vanished. And even that's a maybe."

"Then let's do that. Is that okay, Colin? I know those are painful for you."

"If we can be sure the Leukemia is gone, yes, let's do it."

"Okay. I'll have a nurse come back with today's paperwork, and then you can schedule the biopsy and go home."

They scheduled the biopsy for the following Monday, a follow-up for the results the Friday after that, and left. As soon as they were in the car, Colin called Mads.

"Hi Colin. What's the news?"

"The new lab work agreed with Tuesday's. The doctor can't figure out what happened. He wanted to run a whole bunch of tests, but mom asked him to hold off until the bone marrow biopsy is done, and its results are received."

"How long will that take?"

"The biopsy itself is next Monday. We go back on Friday to get the results."

"But right now, you're cured?"

"The doctor called it spontaneous remission, but at least for now, the Leukemia appears to be gone."

"Sweet!"

Jonas' reaction when came home from work the following Friday was nowhere near as mild. Emma broke the news over dinner.

"So, how did things go with Dr. Dunne today?"

"The bone marrow biopsy confirmed that the Leukemia was gone."

Jonas was speechless for a moment, "Don't joke with me. Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, thank you God and Madeline Noonan."

That was all he could get out before tears of joy overwhelmed him.

9

Colin eventually went through the other tests Dr. Dunne suggested, but as everyone who knew what happened expected, there was never a reason determined. The two families continued the once monthly visits for another year. Once Colin turned sixteen and a half, and got his driver's license, he would visit Mads every other weekend. At this time, he was in eleventh grade and Mads was in tenth, when school was in session, they couldn't easily get together more often. Colin continued to have checkups quarterly, and they continued to show that the Leukemia was gone.

In the meantime, Madeline studied hard and went from a B plus/A minus student to getting straight A's. Colin applied and was accepted at Penn State to major in Health Policy and Administration. He spent his college years at the Harrisburg campus, where he remained close to Mads until she started college, following the MD program at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey. The two schools were approximately twenty minutes away from each other.

After Colin graduated, he got a job at the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) Outpatient Center, in Hershey. A few miles away from Madeline's school. Five years later, Mads completed Medical school and began her residency at Wooster Community Hospital, in Ohio. Nearly simultaneously, Colin was able to get an administrator's job at Wooster Community Hospital's Milltown Professional Building, once again a few miles from Madeline. After three years of residency, Madeline moved on to an oncology fellowship program in Akron. This time they would have been approximately thirty miles apart, but they decided to get married, and found an apartment in Barberton, Ohio. This was closer to Akron, so Madeline would have the shorter commute. Madeline was twenty-nine, and Colin was thirty at the time of the wedding. They had been friends for more than twenty-three years.

Two years later, Madeline's fellowship was completed, and she planned to return to Wooster to be associated with the hospital where she did her residency. Colin returned to Wooster as well, obtaining a job at the same hospital. Madeline’s department, Wooster Cancer Care, was located in the hospital. They had saved well and bought a house in Wooster, just a few miles from the hospital.

Fortunately for the Noonan family, Madeline hadn't run across any other children with Leukemia until she began her fellowship. Fortunately for those few children, they were still surviving when Madeline returned to Wooster.

They spent three years attempting to start a family, until a previously unknown complication from her birth was discovered. She was unable to have children. Like her brother, Peter, she and Colin decided to adopt. They fostered, then adopted a boy, Michael, six. A year later, a little girl was added, Mia, five.

Both children had previously been placed into foster care, Michael, because his parents were too poor to be able to provide for him medically; Mia, for a more tragic reason. Michael and Mia were both undergoing treatment for Leukemia.