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Chapter 3 - The Specialist at St. Jude’s

I scooped Lucy into my arms, carrying her light, fragile frame to my rental sedan. She weighed less than ninety pounds. Her knees were scraped, and her hands trembled against my collar.

As we pulled out of the driveway, Lucy burst into quiet, agonizing tears, burying her face into my shoulder.

"Nathan... they're going to take that money too," she wept, her voice cracking with despair. "They'll never let me have the treatment. Theresa told me that if I cost you money, you would leave me..."

I pulled the car over two blocks away, beneath the shade of an old oak tree, and wrapped both arms around my wife.

"Lucy, look at me," I commanded softly.

She lifted her hollow, tear-stained face. Her hazel eyes were dull with pain, but in them, I saw the woman who had stood beside me in our tiny newlywed apartment five years ago, packing my lunchboxes and believing in me when I had nothing.

"There is no Canadian settlement for them," I whispered, wiping the tears from her cheekbones. "I have eighty-five thousand dollars saved in my private offshore account that Theresa never touched. You are going to the premier oncology center in the state tonight. You will have the finest doctors, private suites, and top specialists. And by the time my mother and sister realize what happened, they won't have a single cent left to their names."

Lucy stared at me in stunned, breathless relief, her chin quivering as she realized the nightmare was finally breaking.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Institute in Columbus.

Dr. Aaron Bennett, the chief of thoracic and breast oncology, met us in the private consultation suite. Working alongside a team of four specialists, Dr. Bennett completed an immediate PET scan, full-body metabolic imaging, and complete blood panels.

At 7:00 PM, Dr. Bennett walked into the private room where Lucy was resting beneath a heated down blanket, an IV line restoring her hydration and electrolytes.

"Mr. Vance, Mrs. Vance," Dr. Bennett said, his face serious but encouraging. "The tumor in Lucy's right breast has progressed to Stage 3B due to eleven months of criminal neglect. However, the lymph node involvement is localized. The cancer has not metastasized to her liver, lungs, or bones."

I gripped Lucy's hand tightly. "Can you save her, Doctor?"

"With an aggressive six-week cycle of targeted immunotherapy and micro-cellular chemotherapy, followed by a localized lumpectomy and radiation," Dr. Bennett smiled warmly, "her five-year survival and remission prognosis is over eighty-eight percent. We begin the first infusion tomorrow morning."

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Lucy choked back a sob of pure, unadulterated hope, squeezing my hand with all the strength left in her fingers.

"Thank you, Doctor," I said. "Spare no expense. Put everything under my direct international credit line."

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