ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 33
mors have shrunk, that there are no new spreads, and therefore one
simple surgery would make her cancer-free. Or, you and the children can say a prayer that is so heartfelt, so sincere, for that is how
little children pray for their Mommies, and believe so confidently,
that it will be answered completely and immediately, making all her
cancer go away; no more chemotherapy, or radiation, or surgery, or
even clinical trials will be necessary. You can then pretend to wave
a magic wand and make the oncologist vanish, a herald of woe who
in ten to twelve months would otherwise pronounce that the treatments are not working, that the disease has become terminal.
Yes, in your fairy tale you can take your little girls and your friend
with her two boys across the dandelion-studded lawn to Cinderella’s coach. You can all stop, gather dandelion puffs, and blow on
them, sending hundreds of tiny parachutes into the breeze, each a
wish, a little prayer. You can get to Cinderella’s coach, climb inside,
and there you can all imagine that the invisible, benevolent Fairy
Godmother appears and orders those six white horses to race and
the coach wheels to roll, whisking you off to the world of fairies
and pixie dust, of dancing flowers and sparkling fireflies, of rainbows and silver bells, of unicorns and mermaids, of healthy parents and happy children: the world full of answered prayers and
dreams-come-true. You can imagine yourself riding in that magical pumpkin coach through the storybook world for a while, not
letting the coach disappear as the clock strikes midnight. You can
grant your best friend and her boys their wish, so that even when
the clock strikes noon, announcing lunch time, they will not have
to leave magic and fairy tales behind. You can let them experience
their miracle, so your friend in the red sweater can start improving
quickly. She will take the red sweater off, yet keep the pink glow on
her cheeks, looking healthier than she has in months.
A passionate lover of fairy tales, you know you cannot get cures
like this in the best of hospitals, not even in the Mayo Clinic, or with
the most potent cytotoxics.
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