Once Upon a Wish Read Online Free PDF

impossible. It’s a low-risk surgery that should just take a couple of hours, and that will tell us, for sure, whether or not Tatum needs a transplant.”
    Sherry and David gave consent for the exploratory surgery and then joined their family and friends in the waiting room. Nerves crawled through Sherry’s body and grabbed at her stomach with each passing second as she and David made their way into thehallway that led to the operating room before the doctors wheeled Tatum by. Though low-risk, they knew that with any surgery, there was never a 100 percent guarantee of her coming out alive. Holding on to each other for support, they watched as Tatum neared, the clinking sound of metal from her hospital bed echoing between quiet walls. Sherry pursed her lips together and swallowed the burning in her throat as the bed came to a halt at their feet. Tatum remained in the coma that had started on their trip back from San Antonio. Sherry and David stared down at their beautiful daughter, whose skin had yellowed and sunk around her closed eyes. They bent over the rails of the bed, kissing her cheeks and whispering quick messages into Tatum’s ear.
    “Keep living,” Sherry managed, her voice shaking. “We love you
so
much, baby.”
    “Stay strong, Tate,” David said softly into her ear. “You’re going to be just fine. Just stay strong.”
    With that, Tatum was wheeled through the double doors, into the unknown.
    As the doors swung closed, David and Sherry slumped to the floor, shaking with the agonizing reality that they may have just told their daughter good-bye.
    After minutes that felt like hours, they finally stood, hugged, and walked back into the waiting room, hand in hand. They mingled nervously for the next few hours, praying with friends and family, finding strength in their presence. With no food or sleep in two days, they needed it.
    The hands of the clock on the wall ticked nonchalantly past midnight before they heard the distinct sound of an opening door. David and Sherry shot their heads toward the entrance of the room, where gastroenterologist Dr. Naveen Mittal and transplant surgeon Dr. Henry Randall stood in their scrubs and booties. Dr.Randall used a large, wooden desk at the front of the waiting room as a podium, and everyone stood and rushed to surround him, David and Sherry at the front of the group.
    A pin drop would have sounded like a shattering vase.
    “There is more healthy liver than not,” Dr. Randall began. “We can’t tell yet if Tatum’s liver will be able to heal itself, but there is enough healthy liver to leave it in for the night.”
    With that, the room erupted. Hugs and cheers were tossed around the room, but David and Sherry stood in that moment simply looking at each other, the celebration surrounding them a blur. They didn’t cheer or clap or shout. There was a shared and silent understanding between them that, while it was great news, this didn’t mean Tatum was going to live. Though both natural optimists, wanting to rejoice, they pushed that urge aside. They were learning that a moment of good news meant only that—a moment. Nothing more. And moments like these could pass as quickly as it takes for good news to spread.
   7   
    When the excitement died down and the hour hand on the clock passed one, Sherry and David walked groups of dedicated visitors to their cars in the parking lot and made their way back into the hospital and up to Tatum’s room in the ICU. As they pushed open the door, familiar, panicked shouts of doctors’ orders escaped the room and four nurses surrounded Tatum’s small body. Beeps of every machine collided, mockingly, as alarms sounded and blended to chaos. David and Sherry backed to the far wall of the room, eyes wide, mouths covered, petrified. They watched as they were hit with pieces of words thrown from the nurses who were trying to fill them in on her condition.
    Her heart rate is dropping. Blood pressure, increasing.
    None of it made