Ashen Medical Records

“I’m very sorry, but your son’s condition... There’s little hope, even with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. And even if he were to get a bone marrow transplant... given the current situation, by the time his turn came, I’m afraid...” The doctor couldn’t bring himself to continue. He had repeated those cruel words throughout his more than ten years in the profession, as if they were etched into his mind, yet every time he said them, his heart still clenched. “No... No! Doctor, I’m begging you, please save my son... He’s only eighteen. He just finished taking the college entrance exam. His life has only just begun, Doctor!” the woman wailed. The sudden blow nearly shattered the mother’s heart. She fell to her knees with a thud and repeatedly knocked her head against the floor. The middle-aged man beside her hurried to help his wife up, but his eyes were brimming with tears too. The once sturdy man instantly hunched over, his face turning ashen. “Is there really no hope, Doctor?” A sliver of hope still lingered in the man’s heart. Even his wife, kneeling on the floor, lifted her head. Her black hair fell messily across her face, but it could not hide the light in her eyes, the light called ‘hope.’ “I’m sorry... He has at most five years left to live.” A gust of wind blew, snuffing out the already wavering candlelight in the man’s eyes. The thing called ‘hope’ flew far away with it, never to return. Outside the door, a pale-faced boy leaned against a cold bench. Patients and nurses passed back and forth. White hospital gowns, white coats, white walls, a white ceiling...