2021 (7 page)

‘Would it really be selfish if I ask
ed for my best friend to recover?’ he now pondered.

The thought
had been going over in his head, but he hoped that Alec might recover anyway. Now he knew Alec’s death was immanent he just took a deep breath whilst he considered what to do.

Then he
decided to take action.

So
for the first time in years Tom knelt down to pray.

He prayed for Alec to make a full and speedy recovery!

With that done, he
then quickly rushed off and headed straight for the hospital. Fortunately, it was only a short fifteen minute walk away, although on this occasion it took much less than that as he was now running all the way.

He
soon arrived to discover Alec’s family all sitting around an empty bed in a room on its own.

‘Oh
my God, am I already too late?’ Tom asked in anguish as he stared at the empty bed in front of them all.

‘No,
Tom, the surgeon just wanted to do another MRI scan’ explained Alec’s father as Tom just blew a huge sigh of relief.

‘Gosh, I thought I was too late
there for a minute’ he uttered.

Then he
realised what he’d just said and immediately apologized to Alec’s mum and dad.

‘I’m sorry, that was
very insensitive of me’ he added.

‘It’s all right, Tom, we all know why we’re
here’ Alec’s mum smiled as a member of Alec’s family just offered him a seat.

The small room was quite crowded now as all Alec’s family were present
, including his older sister, younger brother and sister, and an uncle and aunt who both lived nearby.

Tom just nodded a
polite ‘hello’ to them all as he now sat down.

‘But why would the surgeon want to do another MRI scan at this late stage?’ Tom puzzled.

‘We’ve no idea’ t
hey all shrugged ‘it seems a complete waste of time if he’s almost gone anyway’ added Alec’s mother.

‘The surgeon
just insisted he wanted to do another test this morning’ added Alec’s dad ‘as if Alec hasn’t gone through enough of these tests already’ he moaned.

‘The surgeon
just said he just wanted to be absolutely sure’ added Alec’s mum quietly ‘he’s even got nurses out of bed to come here especially’ she explained.

‘When did this
all happen then?’ asked Tom curiously.

‘
Oh, it was only around half an hour ago I think. Before that, Mr Hudson seemed absolutely adamant they’d done all that they could’ explained Alec’s dad.

‘Why, is the time
significant in some way?’ puzzled Alec’s mum.

‘No, no reason’ replied Tom casually
‘I just wondered how long ago Alec had been taken for the tests that’s all’ he explained.

Of course
in truth, Tom was thinking about the timing of the prayer he had just made for Alec to recover.

Another half an hour
passed by as they all sat there silently waiting, broken up only by the occasional trip to the coffee machine just a little way along the hall.

Then the surgeon
, Mr Hudson, suddenly rushed in to see them.

Alec’s mum immediately stood up.

‘What is it, Doctor, is Alec still
with us?’ she asked eagerly as some of Alec’s relatives now began to cry.

‘Yes
, Alec is still with us’ the surgeon assured them all as he held up his hands to calm them all down. ‘I’ve no idea why, but I just had the urge to check some things again this morning’ he explained.

‘What kind of things?’ queried Alec’s mum.

‘Yes, have you deci
ded to operate after all, Mr Hudson?’ queried Alec’s dad.

The specialist surgeon now looked slightly unco
mfortable as he brought in a chair from the outside corridor and then sat down in their midst.

‘Well, it’s the weirdest thing
’ he began. ‘I’d actually done all the tests we ever needed, dozens of them, we had even sent Alec to a different hospital to double check our results, but they all just confirmed my initial diagnosis’ explained the surgeon. ‘For some reason this morning though, I just got the urge to carry out another MRI scan on Alec, I’ve really no idea why’ the surgeon, Mr Hudson explained.

He
then paused for a moment as if he were composing his words very carefully.

‘
I can’t explain the results we now have, but I’ve had them checked twice now on separate machines just to be sure. That’s why there has been a delay in my getting back to you’ he explained.

Mr Hudson
then got up and waved for them all to follow him.

‘Look, the easiest thing is for me to show you all’ he smiled and he led them all towards a consulting room just along the corridor.

So they
followed him as he led the way to a room filled with equipment as they quickly all filed in behind him.

The sur
geon then turned on the light to a series of light boxes all mounted up on the wall.

‘Right, if you look at the results of this MRI scan you can see a large cloudy area right here’ the surgeon explained as he pointed to the screen
with his pen.

‘Every scan we did on Alec’s brain was exactly the same, only you can see the area becoming even larger see?’

‘Oh
yes’ they all agreed as they crowded in to stare at the screen.

‘That cloud
y area is the tumour in Alec’s brain’ explained the surgeon. ‘This particular scan wasn’t even done here, but at the Royal Hope Hospital in Crowbridge’ he explained.

‘So? W
e already know all this, Doctor, why are you showing us this all over again?’ queried Alec’s mum.

‘Well, that’s just the point
you see’ replied the specialist looking rather excited. ‘
This
is the result of Alec’s scan carried out only around half an hour ago’ he smiled as he pointed to the screen. ‘Now compare it to the ones we had done before’ he insisted.

Alec’s dad removed his glasses so he could now move closer and study all the scans more closely.

‘But in these latest
ones the cloudy area seems to have gone’ he puzzled.

‘
Exactly
!’ smiled Mr Hudson the specialist. ‘I’ve ordered another one to be done on our very latest machine over in A & E just to be doubly sure’ explained the surgeon ‘but quite amazingly, I’m quite hopeful now’ he smiled.

Just then a nur
se arrived with the results.

‘Ah, right on time!’ smiled the specialist
immediately placing the film up onto the light box. ‘Thank you, Nurse, and thanks for leaving the nurses quarters and rushing this through for me’ he remarked politely.

‘It’s the same, Mr Hudson’ she smiled
‘as the latest ones I mean’ the young nurse commented before she rushed off again.

‘Well I be
’ puzzled the specialist as he studied it himself as Alec’s dad just peered over his shoulder.

‘But the cloud
y area, Mr Hudson, it’s completely gone’ puzzled Alec’s dad.

‘That’s right
!’ smiled Mr Hudson the specialist surgeon.

‘But what does
this
mean
?’ puzzled Alec’s mum.

‘It means the tumour has
somehow gone!’ explained Mr Hudson with a broad smile on his face.

‘Gone?’ queried Alec’s dad
‘but how is that even possible?’ as the surgeon just shrugged his shoulders.

‘I’m afraid
, Mr and Mrs James, I simply have no explanation for you’ he admitted. ‘I could stand here and just lie to you, but I won’t do that’ he stated firmly.

Then he just shrugged his shoulders again.

‘In all my years of practising and diagnosing serious conditions such as this,
I have never witnessed such a strange occurrence before’ he openly admitted.

‘But there must have been some kind of mix up with the scans
or something, Mr Hudson?’ suggested Alec’s dad. ‘Maybe they got Alec’s tests confused with someone else’s?’

‘No, there was definitely no mix up, I checked it mysel
f’ explained the surgeon. ‘Here, see for yourself, if I put one scan over the other you’ll see an exact match to Alec’s profile, they are an identical match in every way other than the tumour has simply disappeared. In any case, even if there was a mix up, which is extremely unlikely I might add, that would not explain why Alec became so gravely ill.’

‘So, Mr Hudson,
are you saying the tumour has gone completely then?’ queried Alec’s mum.

‘Yes
, it would appear so’ smiled the surgeon.

‘And you have no explanation?’ queried Alec’s dad.

‘I’m
afraid not’ smiled the surgeon ‘your son, Mr and Mrs James, has somehow completely defied medical science, I am very pleased to say!’ he added cheerfully.

Just then
, the same nurse returned and poked her head around the corner.

‘Just to let you know, Mr Hudson, I’m returning the boy back to his bed,
he’s woken up now and says he’s hungry!’ she smiled.

‘Wo
ken up?’ queried Alec’s mum ‘does she mean my Alec?’ as she put her hand to her lips in hope.

‘Are you Alec’s mum and dad?’ asked the nurse.

‘Yes’ the
y both chorused together.

‘Well
just give us a few minutes and we’ll have him settled back into his bed’ she explained.

‘But he’s fine
you say?’ asked Alec’s mum eagerly.

‘Yes, he’s already sitting up
and being told off for eyeing up our younger nurses and complaining how he’s hungry. I’ll have to rustle him up a sandwich from somewhere now’ she laughed.

‘That sounds like our Alec all right’ Alec’s mum smiled as she then cried with relief
as she fell into her husband’s arms.

Both Alec’s parents then sh
owed their gratitude to Alec’s surgeon, Mr Hudson.

‘Thank you’
the surgeon smiled ‘but to be honest, I don’t know what
I’ve
even done’ he admitted as he shrugged his shoulders.

‘Whate
ver, we’re most grateful to you anyway, Mr Hudson’ stated Alec’s dad as he shook him firmly by the hand.

A short while later
, they went back to Alec’s hospital room to discover him sitting up in bed.

Alec then smiled away as he enjoyed all the fuss he was receiving
from everyone.

His surgeon, Mr Hudson leaned on the door frame as he watched them all celebrate Alec’s remarkable recovery
.

W
hilst everyone was busy just chatting away, Alec’s father approached him there.

‘Are you really baffled as to how Al
ec has recovered, Mr Hudson?’ Alec’s dad whispered.

‘Believe you me, if I
really knew how Alec had recovered from such a serious condition, I’d probably win a Nobel Prize for medicine’ smiled the surgeon. ‘The boy was gravely ill, you saw him yourself, and there were definitely no mistakes on the scans we did. I’m just happily, completely baffled, Mr James’ the surgeon smiled.

‘But you don’t think it could return?
The condition I mean?’ queried Alec’s dad quietly.

‘Well
I can’t see how, as there is simply no trace of any tumour there now’ Surgeon Hudson pondered.

Just then, local Catholic priest Father Mat
hews arrived to serve Alec with the last rites.

‘Wh
ere is the sick boy?’ he asked Surgeon Hudson quietly.

‘He’s in there’ smiled the surgeon as Father Mathews peered inside.

‘But he’s sitting up smiling?’ queried the
old priest.

‘Yes, I think
someone decided it wasn’t his time to go after all’ laughed the surgeon just as his bleeper went. ‘I’m terribly sorry, Father, but I’ll have to go’ he explained.

Mr Hudson went
to quickly say goodbye to everyone.

Then just as he turned to leave, he hesitated for a moment.

He then went back and shook Tom’s hand and smiled at him before quickly saying goodbye to everyone again before he left.

‘Mr Hudson, there must have been some kind of mistake surely?’ queried the priest as he
quickly ran after the surgeon and stopped him in the corridor.

‘No, there was no mistake, Father. I tell you, that boy was gravely ill with a tumour almost the size of your hat. It’s gone now though, don’t ask me how, it’s just
gone
. Ask anyone, it’s the talk of the whole hospital!’ Surgeon Hudson explained with a smile. ‘I guess God just changed his mind today, so your services are happily not required after all’ he laughed.

As
Mr Hudson continued along the corridor Father Mathews struggled along next to him.

‘But tell me, Mr Hudson, why did you shake the hand of the teenage boy in there?’

The surgeon
briefly paused in the corridor.

‘Do you know, Father, it’s the strangest thing, but
I just got the feeling that he was responsible for all this somehow.’

‘What, for the sick boy’s recovery?’ queried Father Mathews.

‘Yes, it sounds weird doesn’t it?
Maybe I’m just tired or something?’ he smiled ‘it has been a very long day. Anyway, if you excuse me, Father, I really must dash’ added Surgeon Hudson as he then rushed off.

Father Mathews
then returned to the door of Alec’s room where he gazed inside as he just watched Alec and Tom as they laughed and joked with one another.

‘I have
a very strong feeling we’ve just witnessed a miracle here’ Father Mathews muttered away to himself before he finally entered the room.