Stories like this are just impossible to bear. Any of us old farts would trade places with this sweet child in a minute, but no one asks us. Why is that?
It's very unfair.
Ya got me.
Aside from this being a very moving story (which it is), it’s at least something positive in the whole sea of bad news we’re bombarded with every day.
Your question brought up a bittersweet memory. My grandchildren had a friend who was fighting leukemia. One day I was taking my granddaughter and her friend and her friend’s little sister somewhere and I heard them talking.
The youngest one was saying that she would give her friend her heart if she needed it and then her sister agreed that she too would give Jacquelyn her heart if it would save her. I was just grinning ear to ear through my tears because they were so sincere and I didn’t want to explain to them that they couldn’t give her their hearts without dying themselves.
Then it came time for my granddaughter to pipe in and she also agreed that she would give her heart also but then she stopped to think a minute and then asked “Grandma, don’t you have to be 18 to give someone your heart?”
I’m sorry, poignant moment or not I couldn’t help but laugh, then I explained why they couldn’t give their hearts but that they could give bone marrow if they matched and if their parents consented and they all hoped that they would match and be able to help her.
I’m crying now but I can still laugh about the sweet sincerety of their misconception.
To steal a line from Calvin and Hobbes.
“I suppose it will all make sense when we grow up.”