Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

~ she'd given birth to surgery date of October 21. Two
Madison.
"There's no point waiting," the doctor had told them after one
week of chemotherapy and radiation. "Not since we're not seeing
a dramatic response to the treatment."
Finally, mercifully, it was Sunday evening. Dr. Layton had spent an hour with
and risks of brain surexplaining once more the bene
gery.
gery.
"First of all, it's the only way to rid jade of the cancer." He
looked from. Tanner to jade and back again. "Otherwise her condition would be terminal."
He detailed that if all went well, they would remove the entire
314 tumor without disturbing the surrounding brain tissue. If the margins around the tumor tested clean,
there was a very good chance jade would be cured, and that five years from now, if she had no recurrence
of cancer she could be given a clean bill of health. Her battle with cancer would be over forever.
If not...
Jade had barely been able to tolerate hearing the list of things
that could go wrong. First, they might not get the entire tumor. In
that case, if the margins around the tumor showed remaining cancer
cells, jade could easily face a second brain tumor down the
road or cancer in another part of her body-most likely her lungs.
Even if they managed to remove every cancer cell, there was a possibility that jade's brain would be
permanently altered in the process.
"That's the part I'm a little foggy on." Tanner leaned forward,
holding tight to jade's hand with one hand and resting his chin in
the palm of his other.
Dr. Layton studied the floor for a moment and then looked at
Tanner once more. "It means she could lose her memory or suffer
a change in personality. When we remove a tumor this size, we try
to leave the brain undisturbed. But some tissue is bound to be lost
in the process."
Jade watched the blood drain from Tanner's face. These details
had always been clear to her, but apparently Tanner had not fully
understood until now. "How... how will you know?"
Dr. Layton folded his hands, his brow lowered, eyes dark with
the severity of the situation. "We won't know until she regains
consciousness. After the surgery."
When the doctor finally left, Tanner hung his head and cried. Jade wanted desperately to crawl out of bed
and go to him, to sit on his knee, wrap her arms around his neck, and promise him none of those terrible
things would happen. That tomorrow at this
308
time she'd still be with him and that everything was going to be
okay
Instead she ran her fingers through his hair, praying that her touch would be enough to help him through.
"He has to tell us that, Tanner. We can't be blind to the risks."
Tanner shook his head and wiped the sleeve of his shirt across his eyes. "I'm sorry." She saw raw fear in
his eyes. "I want to wake up at home with you beside me, with Maddie and Ty down the hall, and know