He gladly accepted, and the next day after school he picked his daughter up and drove her to the hospital. They even made plans to go for food afterwards.
Shayla was examined and the doctor left the room for a time. When he returned, he did so with a message that would change her life forever.
Shayla had such a large cancerous tumor that it took up almost two-thirds of her breasts. It had even caused one of her lungs to collapse, which is why she had been feeling bad for so long and couldn’t stop coughing.
Despite the news, Shayla and her dad decided to press on with dinner, though of course they had to have it in hospital instead of a restaurant. At that time, they had no idea that the next 450 meals they would take would be in the pediatric oncology unit at Fairfax Hospital.
Shayla had advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and the prognosis wasn’t good.
Tom decided to make a gesture to show his daughter she would always have his support. He went to a store and bought a matching bracelet for each of them, promising he would wear his every day until Shayla beat the cancer.
Over the next few years, Tom spent hundreds of nights with his daughter while they battled the terrible disease together.
Shayla endured hundreds of tests, blood transfusions, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and a cardiac arrest … but she never stopped fighting.
For Tom, it was agony. He held his daughter’s hair while she vomited, cried with her, laughed with her, and was brave with her