Chapter 5 - The MatchFour days later, the rain had cleared over Chicago, leaving behind a crisp, sunlit autumn morning.
Inside the private office of Dr. Marcus Vance at St. Jude’s, the high-resolution monitors displayed the genetic compatibility matrix for Leo's bone marrow transplant.
Grace and I sat side-by-side in the leather chairs, holding hands so tightly our knuckles were white.
Dr. Vance stepped into the room, holding a blue folder, a rare, radiant smile breaking across his stern face.
"Mr. and Mrs. Vance," Dr. Vance announced cleanly, his voice carrying warm and clear through the room. "The secondary HLA high-resolution DNA sequencing results are complete."
Grace held her breath, her grip on my hand tightening to an iron vice.
"Ryan's sample is a ten-out-of-ten perfect genetic match," Dr. Vance declared.
Grace let out a loud, weeping cry of pure, weightless joy, burying her face into her hands as tears of relief spilled over her fingers.
I pulled her into my arms, weeping tears of pure, unadulterated gratitude, holding my wife tight against my heart as Dr. Vance smiled warmly at us from across the desk.
"The transplant surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday," Dr. Vance reported smoothly. "Because Ryan is a full match, the donor engraftment success rate is over ninety-four percent. Leo is going to beat this."
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I raised my head, looking through the glass window at my three-year-old son sitting in the play area, holding a plastic space rocket, his gray-blue eyes shining bright under the sunlit room.
"He's going to beat it, Grace," I promised into her hair, kissing her forehead softly. "Our boy is coming home."
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