trying to relax; he is eager to get this dog and pony show over with.
A few minutes later, Corba is standing at the podium addressing several dozen reporters who have been assigned to cover the event. Rory feels uneasy as he sees that the lobby is nearly filled with more people than what would be allowed by fire code. In fact, there are not enough chairs for most of the reporters in the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Corba strong; I am the Hospital Administrator, and I want to thank you for coming this evening.” Corba begins, addressing the room like an expert host, turning slightly as she speaks to engage everyone. “It is our pleasure to announce some startling medical breakthroughs discovered by the Pathology Clinic here at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. This is a formal presentation, so please hold your questions until the end. Before I get to the announcement, I would like to thank:” Corba points to her staff in a clockwise motion, “Doctor Anderton and Doctor Yahmir of the Pathology Clinic, Doctor Chan, our Microbiologist; all of our hardworking lab technicians, and of course; Mr. Rory Chambers and his wife Kelly.”
Rory smiles wide, proudly displaying all of his teeth as Corba makes this gaff, and Kelly buries her head in her hands for a half second, then raises her head quickly trying to keep her composure in front of the press. As her face comes back up, Rory can see that she is turning red with embarrassment and he begins to gently rub the center of her back feeling the soft texture of the designer dress.
“Now, for those of you who saw the press release earlier,” Corba continues with a smirk, “this is the part where we explain everything in English.”
The room breaks into a bit of laughter and most of the reporters are now smiling, holding onto every word.
“Six months ago,” Corba states proudly, “our hospital staff gave a transfusion to a patient who was infected with the HIV Virus. To our astonishment, that man started showing signs of regression from the virus just days after the transfusion. As of today, he is now completely cured of AIDS.”
The room full of reporters is suddenly silent, watching Corba with their full attention. All of their faces seem inspired and awestruck. Rory grips his left knee nervously as these words carry from the amplified digital speakers placed all around the lobby. He closes his eyes for a moment, frustrated that this announcement is bolder than anything he read from the statements or press releases the hospital disclosed to him earlier.
“We were shocked- to say the least,” she continues with a smile. “In fact, at first, our medical team thought that there was a mistake on the man’s medical records, but it was confirmed that he had been suffering from the HIV Virus for two years. After this discovery, we decided to track down the blood donor as our Microbiologist, Doctor Chan, had exposed some anomalies in his blood. Like any good scientists, and I hope we are,” she says with a grin, “we wanted to confirm that the results came from the donor blood. Therefore, we transfused another 100 milliliters of the donor blood into another patient who was infected with the HIV Virus. To our astonishment… The same donor blood cured a second patient of AIDS!”
The room erupts into loud applause, and several reporters have the appearance of small children on Christmas morning. Rory begins feeling sick to his stomach; not realizing how much Corba intended to build up the hype. He senses the heat of the spotlight coming down hard and fast on his life, making him very uneasy.
“After confirming these results,” Corba broadcasts boldly from her aging throat, “we decided to do a deeper study of this young man’s blood. Over the past six months, we have been drawing 473 milliliters of blood from Mr. Chambers every month.”
Kelly looks at Rory with confusion as the couple was told that 1,000 milliliters was being drawn each month. Rory returns her suspicious stare, leaning forward to watch Corba more closely. He remembers with absolute certainty that the hospital was taking 1,000 milliliters of blood each month. In his boredom with all the testing, he had learned a great deal about metric units and recalls bags full of his blood stamped with 1000 ML.
“Now, as a world class medical facility, it is our responsibility to ensure that we leave no stone unturned when it comes to saving lives. In this regard, Doctor Chan, our brilliant Microbiologist, took the time to do extremely tedious testing on Mr. Chamber’s blood. In fact, he had a theory that the treatment could impact blood borne pathogens similar to HIV. Further testing showed that a 75 milliliter transfusion of the blood successfully cured Hepatitis B and C, respectively.”
There is another wild round of applause, and wide smiles from members of the press. Rory looks at Corba with distrust, resting his hand firmly on Kelly’s right shoulder.
“But, ladies and gentlemen of the press,” Corba beams with a sinister smile, “that was only the beginning of our breakthrough. In another transfusion with 100 milliliters of Mr. Chamber’s blood, a very sick little girl with leukemia,” Corba begins to sob a bit and tilts her head down for a moment, wiping a tear or two from her right eye with her little finger. “I’m sorry; this is a very beautiful story…”
Rory glances at Doctor Yahmir, and sees tears streaming down his face as he is overcome by emotion. He turns his attention to the crowd of reporters and notices that many of them are also beginning to wipe away tears.
“A very sick little girl with leukemia,” Corba says with a trembling lower lip, “showed remission from her stage 2 cancer. The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is proud to report- that she is in full remission… Her cancer has been cured!”
There is a sudden outburst of applause and some reporters even rise to their feet. Dozens of people are wiping tears from their faces, and others are smiling with pure joy. Rory shifts uncomfortably in his chair wishing that he could be elsewhere. His heart is pounding as he sees how inspired the entire room has become by Corba’s compelling and strategically flawless speech.
“Now aside from leukemia, there is another blood related cancer known as lymphoma. We also transfused 500 milliliters of Mr. Chamber’s blood into a patient suffering from lymphoma, and within a few days, she showed substantial remission. After a few weeks… she is also in full remission and her cancer has been cured!”
Another round of applause ignites from the crowd of reporters, and Rory even sees a few women covering their mouths in stunned silence.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the press,” Corba begins in a Political tone, “we have waited too long for results like these; suffered and died for too long, waiting for results like these. While these medical breakthroughs are astounding and possibly hundreds of years ahead of their time, our ability to take advantage of them remains limited… If you are asking yourself whether or not we are stating that we can cure cancer, then you are correct, WE CAN CURE CANCER!”
The room explodes into a fury of applause and Corba gets a standing ovation from almost every member of the press.
“However,” Corba waits for the applause to die down. “However, at this time, due to a lack of funding and resources, the hospital is only capable of curing about ten to fifteen people per month… I wish we could do more.”
“OH-MY-GOD!” Rory exclaims to himself aloud as Kelly looks at him, not knowing what to say.
“At this time, we only have the ability to cure patients using blood donated by Rory Chambers. However, with the proper funding and resources, the number of patients cured could go from an anorexic ten to fifteen cases a month; to a far more robust ten to fifteen-thousand cases per month!”
The roo
m emits a shorter and less thunderous round of applause than what was produced by announcing the cure for cancer. Rory starts breathing heavily and he doesn’t realize that he is squeezing Kelly’s shoulder with almost all of his strength.
“Babe!?” Kelly asks with surprise pushing his hand away from her shoulder.
“Sorry, I just… I just didn’t expect this.” He looks around the room for a bit feeling totally betrayed and his nostrils flare when focuses on Corba again.
“So are we saying that we can cure some forms of blood related cancer? Yes we can.” Corba evokes with passion. “Are we saying that we can cure HIV and AIDS? Yes we can. Are we also saying that we can cure leukemia and lymphoma with an 80% success rate? Yes, we can… But for now, our results are limited to the efficient distribution of one man’s miraculous blood. For now, we can only save the lives of ten to fifteen patients per month thanks to blood donated by Rory Chambers. However, with the help of you Ladies and Gentlemen in the press, we can get the funding and resources to study this man’s blood and save millions of lives!”
There is another round of applause with more displays of intense emotion and joy. Rory swallows hard already wishing this night never took place.
“Again, we at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center would like to thank Rory Chambers for his continued cooperation in saving lives and helping us to wipe out the deadly plagues of The Twenty-First Century! Please join me, Mr. Chambers, let the world know what you’ve helped
The Golden Goose of Los Angeles Extended Edition Page 12