“I’m going to be tested,” Imani said. “And I pray I’m a match. Can you imagine being able to help someone in that way? Hey! It won’t kill you to do this.”
Some in the audience laughed after she said that. She was right; to be tested and, if a match, to give the bone marrow, without a doubt, wouldn’t kill anyone.
After the news conference, Jessica Noble came up to him. “Representative Simmons,” she said. “Thank you so much.” Tears rolled down her worn face.
Lawrence nodded. “I’m happy to be able to do something that we pray will help.”
Jessica shook her head slowly. “I just don’t know what to say. In this past month, when I’ve been at my lowest, God has sent me angels, disguised as people, right here on earth. When I received that call this morning from Gabrielle that you wanted to put a call out there in a big way, I couldn’t believe it.”
“Well, when my office heard about this, we wanted to do what we could.”
“Yeah, but having your whole family want to come in and be tested . . . to lead the way like this, this is huge,” Jessica said. “Gabrielle has truly been a blessing through all of this. She has tirelessly been out there trying to help us find a match.”
“I will say, according to my secretary, that Gabrielle Mercedes has been relentless in attempting to get us involved in this effort. When I heard about it, something touched my heart about it. I asked myself, what would Jesus do, if He was here, and how would He do it? It came to me what and how, as a Christian who truly values life, I had to do. God is good. His mercy endures forever.”
“I would love for you to meet my daughter. I know she would absolutely get a kick out of meeting someone like you,” Jessica said.
Lawrence’s smile tempered temporarily. “Oh, it’s fine. I’m sure it’s not good having too many strangers around her during this time. I’m aware that her immune system is severely compromised at this stage. My intent is to help her in getting well. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the cause of anything bad happening because of anything I might do. She and I will meet after she gets well. I’m not going anywhere, not anytime soon. I plan on retaining my political office, so we have plenty of time.”
“Of course,” Jessica said. “I know you’re very busy. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Always something vying for my attention, that’s for sure,” Lawrence said.
William stepped in on cue. “Representative Simmons, we need to go. You’re going to be late for your next appointment.”
Lawrence turned back to Jessica. “It was a pleasure meeting you. And if you happen to be a member of the district I represent, I certainly hope you’ll consider voting for me.” He chuckled like it was a joke, but he was serious. “And if you have friends or know people in my district, be sure and tell them to vote for me as well.”
“Absolutely,” Jessica said. “You didn’t even have to ask.”
Lawrence and William walked off.
“Great news conference,” William said. “My phone has been ringing off the hook since you and your family took the stage. I think you’ve risen ten points in the polls with this. And I’d give Imani something extra in her allowance. That girl is a natural, and she doesn’t even know it. She completely sold this today. Heck, after she finished, I would have stepped up to be tested if I hadn’t already committed to do it.”
Lawrence nodded as they walked. “Imani was good. That girl has a heart of pure gold. She meant every word she said. This isn’t a game for her. She’s for real.”
“Yeah, she takes after her mother.” William laughed. “Because anybody who really knows you, know they’re dealing with fool’s gold.” William kept walking as Lawrence stood there pretending to be offended. William turned around and walked backward as he spoke. “Oh, and, Representative Simmons! Happy Hanukkah!”
Chapter 30
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
—Revelation 3:2
The news conference had been two weeks ago. In that time, a special unit had been set up to receive all of those who were signing up to be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for the little girl everybody was now calling Jazz, short for Jasmine. That had come from Jasmine herself.
After the news aired, people wanted to see, if nothing more, a glimpse of the little girl whose story was touching their hearts and garnering conversations from the water cooler to social networks. So one of the news folks convinced Jessica that it would be great if they could get just a few minutes of footage of her daughter to humanize the story even more.
In conjunction with the doctors, who thought a few minutes would be okay, Jessica had agreed. Jasmine had been on for only five minutes and she’d captured hearts. She told them her name was Jasmine, but that she liked being called Jazz.
“Miss Jazz is what my special friend calls me,” Jasmine said, not revealing the name of her special friend. “He’s a doctor who knows how to play a game called Alabama Hit the Hammer. Do you know how to play that game?”
Everybody in the room laughed as a few heads nodded.
“The first time he came, he played that game. He had a piece of hard candy in his hand instead of a rock, which is the way most folks play it. Now when he plays it, he has an encouraging message in whichever hand I pick,” Jasmine said. “My favorite message is this one”—she held up a small slip of paper—“that says, ‘By His stripes, I am healed.’ I keep this one on my night table. My friend explained how Jesus came all the way from Heaven to earth just to save us. Jesus was whipped for nothing that He’d done. But by Jesus’s stripes, I am healed. So whenever I get a little down about my condition, I just read this one. I am healed. God is going to heal me.”
Everybody in Lawrence’s family, except Paris, went to find out if they were a possible candidate to match. Nothing anyone said could make Paris change her mind. She’d made it clear that this was all just for show, since the chances of any of them matching were nil and not worth wasting her time. Besides, it wasn’t like her not doing it was really going to hurt her father’s image. If nothing more, she’d be the one now who appeared the most self-regarding instead of him. And that was fine with her.
It was three days before Christmas when the phone rang. The woman on the other end stated who she was and proceeded to explain why she was calling.
“You’re not going to believe this,” the woman said with joy exuding from her voice. “But the bone marrow transplant recipient you were tested for? Well, you’re a match, an almost perfect match! We need to proceed to the next step in the process now, if you’re willing to do that. Honestly, I can’t even express how thrilled we are. We’re rejoicing here! If you agree and it works, you’ll be saving this little girl’s life!”
Chapter 31
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
—Philippians 2:16
Jessica called Gabrielle. She could barely contain herself. “They found a donor!”
“They did! Thank You, Jesus!” Gabrielle yelled back into the phone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to holler like that.”
“Oh, it’s okay. When I got the call, I had to leave out of the hospital and go to the parking area because I was afraid I’d start screaming for joy and they would have to put me out for disturbing the patients.” Jessica laughed.
“Wow. Wow,” Gabrielle said, her hand loosely covering her mouth. “They found a donor. They actually found a match. God is so good! He answered our prayer.”
“Yes. And it appears that everything is a go now.”
“Are you sure?” Gabrielle asked. “I mean are they sure?”
“I just got off the phone with the people handling this. They told me they had a match, they had called to let that person know, and everything was a go now, ” Jessica said. “They found a match! I can’t believe it, but they finally found a match!”
“Did they happen to tell you who the match was?” Gabrielle asked.
“No. And honestly, I don’t care who it is as long as whoever it is has agreed to go through with the procedure needed to get my child what she has to have. We know they allow anonymous donors. So it’s very possible this person might not ever want their identity revealed,” Jessica said. “But I thank God for them, whoever it is.”
Gabrielle smiled. She rarely heard Jessica say much about God, not since they’d connected. Maybe Gabrielle’s being there, sharing the love of God with Jessica through all of this, was having an effect. “Well, you know I’m thanking and praising God with you. Now Jasmine can get the transplant she needs, and she’ll be on her way to a full recovery soon, in Jesus’s name. In fact, she’ll be even better than before.”
“Amen,” Jessica said. “I agree with you on that prayer. Gabrielle, I also want to thank you for all that you’ve done these past months. You have run this race with me, especially on this last leg when I was feeling tired and defeated and, truthfully, I was almost ready to give up. But you’ve been there with me. You’ve labored to do all you can to get folks to step up and be tested. You were able to first get your pastor, and then Representative Simmons and his office. Oh, my goodness! It certainly looks like your labor has not been in vain.”
Gabrielle didn’t care about being thanked for what she’d done. She did what she needed to do . . . what she was supposed to do. “Have they given you a date when they’re planning on doing the transplant?”
“They’re going to get back with me on all of that. They have to get the person ready to extract the marrow, which will take a few days with them using the less invasive procedure they say they’ll most likely use. The doctor told me that instead of putting the donor under general anesthesia and extracting the cells from the hip bone, they’re going to give the donor injections of medication for a few days. That will cause the stem cells to move out of the bone into the bloodstream where blood will be taken from the donor’s vein, filtered by a machine that will collect the stem cells, and the blood will immediately be returned back to the donor. Jasmine’s part will be more complicated though. In order to kill Jasmine’s remaining bad stem cells, she’ll receive high doses of chemo, possibly radiation, to make room for the incoming new good stem cells. They’ll give her the new stem cells intravenously, just like a blood transfusion.”
“I thought those cells needed to be in the bone—you know, bone marrow.”
“They do. And when they do this procedure, the stem cells will make their way to her bone and begin to grow and create more cells. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? To ensure that her body will receive the transplanted cells and not reject them, they will also be giving Jasmine other medications. So I’d say it will be another few days at least, possibly a week, for everything needed to take place.”
“Will you let me know when they do it? That way I can be praying on that day along with you?” Gabrielle didn’t want to impose during that time by asking if she could be there, even though she wanted nothing more than to be there.
“You’re welcome to come and be here with us, that’s if you can, and if you’d like to. You don’t have to feel obligated or anything.”
Gabrielle felt the tears as they began to well up. “I would really like that. I would. That’s if you don’t feel I’d be imposing.”
“Gabrielle, you and I are in this together now. I’m not going to cut you loose, not at this point. Not when we’re nearing the finish line. For now, we’ll just take things one day at a time. You’re like a friend now, both you and Dr. Morgan. You two are a part of Jasmine’s life. I told you sometime back: She needs all the love she can get. We can sort things out later as to how we’ll proceed. But for now, she and I both need you here with us.”
The tears streamed down Gabrielle’s face. “Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. Oh, and, Jessica?”
“Yes?”
“Merry Christmas! Jesus is worthy to be praised!”
“Yes, He is. And this is going to be a merry Christmas indeed.”
Jessica got off the phone. And Gabrielle began to dance around the room and, before she knew anything, she had knelt down on the floor and was crying and thanking God with all that was within her.
Chapter 32
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.
—Ephesians 1:19
It was three days after Christmas, two days before New Year’s Eve, the day of Ujima in the Kwanzaa celebration (with the principle being collective work and responsibility, building and maintaining the community together, and making our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems to solve together). Zachary and Gabrielle were at the hospital for Jasmine’s bone marrow transplant procedure. They’d sat in the waiting room while Jessica stayed with Jasmine. It had been a tremendous success and Jasmine was on her way to being well again.
But it appeared all of this had taken a toll on Jessica. Gabrielle understood how it would. Jessica had rarely left Jasmine’s side throughout the entire ordeal. Gabrielle and Zachary insisted she go home and get some real bed rest, promising to sit with Jasmine for as long as she needed them to do.
“That’s only if you don’t mind us being here for that long,” Gabrielle respectfully said to her.
“Oh, I don’t mind that. I just don’t want to leave her. You understand,” Jessica said.
“Well, will you at least go home for a bit?” Zachary said. “If not for you, then for Jasmine’s sake. She’s going to be sleeping for a while anyway. We’ll stay with her until you get back. I promise. We’re off for the holidays. I’m sure, besides needing some well-deserved rest, you’d like to get some things done for when she comes home. Because you know it won’t be too much longer now. Another few months.”
A huge smile spread over Jessica’s face. “God is so good! I’m still in awe of Him. Mere days before they found a donor, the doctor was preparing me . . . telling me it wouldn’t be too much longer before she might not be with us. Now here we are, talking about it not being too much longer before she’ll be going home. A few more months. I’m truly . . . truly . . . I just don’t know what to say except that God is good.”
Gabrielle hugged Jessica. “There’s nothing more to say. God is surely good. This is the exceeding greatness of God’s power. Just when the devil thinks he’s made a knockout, God shows Him the blood of Jesus shed for us and reminds him that he’s already been defeated.”
Jessica laughed. “I like that. And when Jasmine gets out of this place and gets to go home in another few months, I’m going to be sure the two of us find a good church home and start going to church on a regular basis.”
“Just make sure wherever you choose that you’re being fed the unadulterated Word of God. Don’t do like some and go just so you can say that you went to church,” Gabrielle said. “Find a place with some meat and some real substance to sustain you. And believe me: There is a difference. Being in the right place can make all of the difference in the world. It can be the difference between life and death.”
Zachary put his arm around Gabrielle. “Where we fellowship has definitely made a difference in both of our lives.”
Jessica nodded. “Over with Pastor Landris. I definitely plan on visiting there. Pastor Landris has been nice enough to come by a couple of times. He prayed a powerful prayer for both me and Jasmine. In fact, he’d just prayed and later that day, they called and said they’d found a donor.”
“Well, I can tell you now: We all would love having you,” Gabrielle said, hoping Jessica didn’t think it was because she only wanted to be able to see Jasmine after all of this was over. “Maybe if you decide to become members, Jasmine will join the dance ministry. I’d sure love having her on the young people’s dance team. She looks like she would be a magnificent dancer.”
“Oh, now, she does like to dance,” Jessica said. “I used to wonder where she got that from, because I�
��ll tell you: I am not a dancer. Oh, no. You definitely don’t want to see me twirling around a room. And if I do, you’d better move everything out of the way.” Jessica laughed.
Jessica went over and got her purse. “If you’re both sure about staying for a little while, I believe I will take you up on your offer. I need to take care of some things. I know Jasmine will be over the moon to see you both. And for sure, I know she’ll be in good hands while I’m gone.”
Gabrielle swallowed hard. She received the message Jessica was saying, without her saying it: Jessica trusted them. She trusted them enough to leave her most precious possession . . . the love of her life, in their hands. Even if it was for only a few hours.
Chapter 33
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
—Ephesians 1:5
Jessica returned to the hospital a little over eight hours later. “I’m so sorry,” she said, apologizing to Gabrielle, who was half asleep in a chair near the bottom of the bed. She kissed Jasmine’s forehead. “I left here, went and handled some necessary business, drove home, took a nice hot shower, lay down on my bed, and the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to a pitch-black bedroom.”
“It’s okay,” Gabrielle said, sitting up straight now. “It really wasn’t a problem. I told you I would stay while you got some rest. I was fully prepared to stay the night. I don’t have anywhere I have to be. The business side of the church where I work is closed until after New Year’s. So I am free as a bird to be here.”
Jessica sat down in the chair on the other side of Gabrielle closest to the head of the bed. “Are you sure? I know you and Dr. Morgan must have plans.”
The Other Side of Goodness Page 20