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Still not a single clue.
“Actually, there’s a case very similar to Mrs. Hudson’s that made international headlines–a true medical miracle.”
Ferdinand paused before continuing, “The patient was a two–and–a–half–year–old child, also diagnosed with leukemia. Her treatment in the hospital wasn’t going well, and as her condition. deteriorated, her parents eventually gave up hope and took her home to spend her final days in peace. But once she was home, she began to improve day by day. When her parents finally brought her back for a follow–up, the doctors were astonished to find that every trace of cancer had vanished from her body. It was nothing short of miraculous.”
“I remember reading about that,” Dr. Teague said. “A whole panel of top international experts gathered to analyze her case. Their conclusion was that the child caught an infection while she had leukemia, which triggered an intense immune response. Her immune system not only fought off the infection, but also destroyed the cancer cells. In short, her immune cells played a
decisive role.”
Ferdinand nodded, “Exactly. Normally, the human immune system is no match for cancer. But I spoke to her attending physician at the time, and before the river incident, the patient was already being prepared for surgery. To boost her immunity, they used a combined regimen–both conventional and holistic medicine. I believe that might have been a key factor.”
One of the other department heads raised a question, “The thing is, that kind of combined regimen to boost immunity is pretty common in current practice. Yet we rarely, if ever, see this
kind of result.”
“There’s another critical detail,” Ferdinand said. “The patient’s family just told me that after she was rescued four years ago, she ran a high fever for an entire week. My guess is, that weeklong fever was the infection that supercharged her immune system.”
The room fell silent.
“If that’s the case,” Dr. Teague mused, “maybe we could incorporate her case into our clinical approach. It could give leukemia patients a real boost in their chances for recovery.”
Ferdinand gave a faint smile. “The general idea is correct, but we can’t recreate all the coincidences that led to these two miracles. Clinically, immune cells typically can’t wipe out cancer–there’s something inherent in the way cancer behaves. So, as much as we’d like to, medical miracles like this are chance events, not something we can engineer.”
“Mr. Ellsworth is right,” another doctor said quietly. “Some of us spend our entire careers without witnessing a miracle like this. Still, it’s something to remember.”
The case conference ended.
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Ferdinand relayed their conclusions to Briony, along with a translated copy of the international news article about the similar case.
Briony read it, tears welling in her eyes.
There was still no clear explanation, but the outcome was better than she’d dared hope. For her, it felt like a blessing from above.
Julia’s cancer was gone, but the plunge into the river had left lasting damage–lung scarring from the infection, and lingering issues with her liver and kidneys.
She had plenty of chronic conditions, large and small. But with medication, there was a real hope she could return to a normal life.
Now, Julia’s mental state was the most pressing concern.
“Her EEG and MRI scans are perfectly normal,” Dr. Teague explained. “We’re leaning toward acquired psychogenic disturbance–her trauma triggered this breakdown.”
“It’s probably linked to what she went through before she jumped into the river. For now, the priority is to address her panic response to seeing people. Once that’s under control, we can look into further psychiatric treatment.”
Considering all this, Ferdinand recommended bringing Julia back to the old village.
Since her condition wasn’t rooted in a neurological problem, keeping her in the hospital wouldn’t help.
As for her panic attacks when confronted with people, Ferdinand insisted she needed to work through this painful process–only by facing those triggers could she start to rebuild a bridge to
the outside world.
Once that bridge was in place, healing could truly begin.
Briony bought an apartment in the same building as Ferdinand, right across the hall.
The place was fully furnished, and in three days, Briony hired people to redecorate it to look exactly like their home in Northborough.
She even painstakingly recreated the little holiday decorations she and Julia had once hung together–down to the tiniest detail.
Then, while Julia was sound asleep, they quietly moved her from the hospital to the new apartment.
The next morning, Julia woke in her new room. Blinking at the unfamiliar ceiling, she slowly sat
- up.
In the living room, Briony and Ferdinand sat together on the sofa, watching the security feed from a tablet.
Julia sat on the bed, dazed, unmoving for a long time.
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Briony held her breath, terrified her mother might spiral again at any moment…
Minutes passed. Julia finally threw back the covers and got out of bed, padding barefoot toward
the door.
As she walked, she glanced around uncertainly, whispering, “Bryn, Bryn…”
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