Donor (2 page)

‘Where’s my princess?’ Sandy Chapman called out as he opened the door. He paused to wipe his feet on the coarse mat before stepping inside. For once his call was not answered by the sound of running feet and laughter. Kate emerged from the kitchen, drying her hands. ‘Your princess isn’t very well, I’m afraid. I had to bring her home from school this afternoon.’

Sandy stooped to kiss Kate on the forehead and put his arm round her shoulder before asking, ‘What’s the matter?’

‘I thought it was just a cold but now I’m not so sure. I thought I’d wait till you came home before I called the doctor.’

Sandy nodded, now looking worried. He climbed the stairs to Amanda’s room and pushed open the door. Amanda’s head didn’t move on the pillow but her eyes looked up at him.

‘Hello, Princess,’ said Sandy softly.

Amanda didn’t reply. Her gaze drifted off to the window but her focal point was miles beyond.

Sandy’s head nearly touched the ceiling in the upstairs rooms of the old cottage and his shoulders almost filled the doorway. He sat down on the floor beside Amanda and rested his elbow on the bed. ‘Poor Princess,’ he said. ‘Have you picked up some nasty bug?’

He ran his fingers lightly along his daughter’s forehead and felt the film of moisture on her pallid skin.

‘I think we are going to call Dr Telford to give you some medicine 
to make you well again.’ He looked at Kate meaningfully and she got the message. She left to telephone while Sandy continued to talk to Amanda.

‘Tell Daddy where it hurts. Is it your tummy?’

Amanda shook her head slowly.

‘All over?’

A nod.

‘Have you been to the bathroom today?’

‘Can’t remember.’

‘Can you remember what you had for lunch?’

A blank look.

‘The same as the other children?’

A nod.

‘You didn’t eat any of the berries off the bushes in the garden did you, Princess?’

A slow shake of the head.

‘Well you cuddle in now. The doctor will be here soon and he’ll make you all better.’ Sandy put Amanda’s teddy bear beside her and tucked in the covers.

‘What do you think?’ asked Kate when he came downstairs.

Sandy shrugged. ‘Same as you, I guess. I want to believe it’s just a cold or flu but I think it’d be as well to get a qualified opinion.’

Kate put her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms round her.

‘Oh God, I hope it’s nothing serious,’ she said.

‘We’re probably worrying unnecessarily,’ said Sandy, but he glanced at his watch and asked, ‘Did you get any idea how long the doctor would be?’

‘The receptionist thought about half an hour. He still has a couple of patients to see at evening surgery.’

There wasn’t enough room in Amanda’s bedroom for all three of them to crowd in, so Sandy stayed downstairs while their GP examined Amanda and her mother provided reassurance by holding her hand. Sandy stood looking out at the garden while he waited. There was no escaping the unease he felt, despite knowing that nine times out of ten a parent’s fears were unfounded. The chances were that the doctor would come downstairs joking with Kate, tell them that there was nothing to worry about and accept their apologies for calling him out unnecessarily.

He recognized that the nature of his job at the hospital tended to distort his view of how much serious illness there was around. Was it the same for policemen? he wondered. Did they see crime and potential criminals everywhere they looked? He heard Amanda’s door open and turned round to look up the stairs. Dr Telford came down first, with Kate behind. They were not joking.

Sandy knew George Telford through his job. General practitioners in the area were encouraged to participate in the care of their patients while they were in the district hospital.

‘What do you think?’ asked Sandy.

‘I’m not happy with her,’ replied Telford, looking concerned. ‘I think we should take her into hospital overnight and run some tests.’

‘Have you any idea at all what’s wrong?’

‘I’ve an idea her kidneys aren’t working properly,’ replied Telford. ‘I could be wrong but I think we ought to run some biochemistry on her. Can’t do any harm.’

‘I suppose not,’ said Sandy. Kate had come over to stand beside him and he had his arm round her shoulders.

‘Has she shown any sign of having trouble with her waterworks in the past few days?’ asked Telford.

Sandy looked to Kate, who shook her head. ‘None at all,’ she said. ‘She’s been as right as rain.’

‘Well, a thorough examination at the hospital should put our minds at rest.’

‘What hospital were you thinking of?’ asked Sandy.

Telford looked thoughtful. He said, ‘I’m trying to decide whether to take her in to the district hospital for overnight observation or maybe have her taken directly up to the Sick Children’s Hospital in Glasgow.’

‘She doesn’t seem to be in too much discomfort,’ said Kate, hoping to influence the decision in favour of the local hospital. That would be more reassuring than having Amanda taken off to Glasgow.

‘True,’ agreed Telford. ‘That’s what we’ll do, then. We’ll take her over to the district hospital and have some preliminary tests done.’ He looked at his watch and said, ‘I suppose at this time it’ll mean calling out the duty technician in the lab. That’s not you this evening, is it?’

‘Not tonight,’ replied Sandy.

‘I’ll stay at the hospital tonight,’ said Kate. She knew from Sandy that on occasion the parents of young children were permitted to stay over in a guest room at the hospital.

‘Good idea,’ replied Telford.

It was just after eight thirty when Kate turned to Sandy and said, ‘You must be starving. You haven’t had anything to eat.’ They were waiting in the small side room outside the ward while Amanda was settled by the nurses.

‘I’m not hungry,’ replied Sandy.

‘Me neither.’

‘What do you think?’ she asked anxiously.

There was no need to ask what she meant. Sandy said, ‘I think she’s got worse in the last hour.’

‘It could just be the upset at coming into hospital.’

‘Maybe,’ conceded Sandy, but he sounded far from convinced.

‘Why don’t you go on home?’ Kate suggested. ‘There’s nothing you can do here. I’ll be here for her if she wakes in the night.’

Sandy nodded as if only half considering the suggestion. ‘I think I’m going to pop along to the lab first to see if Charlie got the specimens okay,’ he said. ‘Maybe I’ll hang around until he’s got the results. If they seem okay I’ll go on home. You will call me if anything changes?’

‘Of course,’ replied Kate. ‘And don’t stand over Charlie. You’re an interested party, remember.’

Sandy nodded; he kissed Kate on the forehead and turned to go.

The district hospital lab was situated in a small brick building, separate from the main building and hidden behind a row of conifers that bent in the wind as Sandy left the warmth of the hospital and walked down the path towards it. He got intermittent glimpses of the lights on in the building as the lower branches of the trees separated. Icy raindrops started to pepper his face as he turned into the shelter of the ivy-covered porch outside the lab. The door was locked. He fumbled in his pocket for his key but discovered that he’d left it at home. He rang the night bell and a few moments later the door was opened by a short, dark-haired, studious-looking man wearing a white lab coat with a green plastic apron over it. His dark-rimmed glasses seemed too large for his round face, giving him the look of a wise old owl.

‘Evening, Charlie,’ said Sandy as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Charlie Rimington smiled and said, ‘I had a feeling I might be seeing you when I read the label on the specimens. How is she?’

‘Not good, but it’s always hard to tell with kids. How are the tests coming along?’

‘Up and running. I take it you’re going to wait?’

‘If you don’t mind.’

‘I’ve got kids too, remember.’

The insistent bleep of an electric timer distracted them and Sandy turned off the machine he was standing beside. He’d done this a thousand times before for other people’s children’s samples. It had never felt like this.

Feeling awkward because it was Rimington’s duty shift and not his, he stood back to allow Rimington to open the loading cage and extract the specimen tube. He saw the ward label on the side of the glass: ‘Amanda Chapman’. It made the hollow feeling in his stomach worse.

Rimington tore off the print-out from the machine and sat down, pencil in hand, at his desk to read it, using the pool of light from an anglepoise lamp. Sandy stood at his shoulder feeling impatient but fighting hard to hide it. After thirty seconds of silence he could stand it no longer.

‘Well?’ he asked.

‘No signs of infection and no toxic substance present,’ said Rimington.

‘But?’ said Sandy anxiously.

‘All the signs … suggest sudden renal failure.’

‘Jesus,’ said Sandy, gripping the bench and letting his head fall forward. He remained like that for a few moments before asking, ‘What are we talking here? Mild?’ He took the analysis sheet from Rimington’s hand and read the results for himself. ‘Jesus,’ he repeated. ‘We’re talking dialysis.’

‘’Fraid so,’ agreed Rimington.

Sandy stood by while Rimington phoned the result through to the ward. There was no question about it: Amanda would have to be transferred to a hospital with a dialysis unit, and the sooner the better. The district hospital did not have this facility. It would have to be Glasgow after all.

A knot of fear formed in the hollow space in Sandy’s stomach. He was worried sick about Amanda but he had to be strong for Kate’s sake. Then there were the logistics of the transfer to be worked out. Kate could go in the ambulance with Amanda, while he drove up to Glasgow in Esmeralda so that he and Kate could get back, whenever that would be. He couldn’t see that far ahead.

Charlie Rimington said, ‘Don’t worry about the lab. Andrew and I can cover for you. Take as much time as you need.’

‘Thanks,’ said Sandy, turning to leave. ‘I appreciate it.’

Outside, it was now raining heavily. Sandy was soaked by the time he got back up to the hospital. He paused just inside the door to wipe the water from his face and push his wet hair back from his forehead before entering the ward.

Kate was talking to George Telford, who was telling her the results of the tests. There was anguish on her face. She saw Sandy arrive and came towards him.

‘Oh, Sandy,’ she sobbed.

Sandy took her in his arms and held her tight. ‘Come on now, Kate,’ he encouraged her. ‘She’s going to be okay. We just have to get her to the right place.’

‘Dr Telford says she has to be transferred tonight,’ said Kate.

‘It’s for the best,’ said Sandy.

‘But how will we—’

Sandy put his finger on her lips. He said, ‘Let’s just take everything one step at a time. You travel in the ambulance with Amanda. I’ll drive up. Then, when we’ve heard what the doctors in Glasgow have to say, we’ll decide what’s best.’

Kate nodded and wiped away her tears.

‘Come on now,’ soothed Sandy. ‘Let’s be strong for Amanda.’

Sandy had to fight against recurrent feelings of disorientation as he followed the ambulance on the road to Glasgow. He was having difficulty in coming to terms with just how quickly everything in their lives had been turned upside down. Only a few hours before he had expected to be watching television with Kate in front of the fire in their cottage while Amanda slept safely upstairs in her room. Now here he was heading north through driving rain on a dark night, with Amanda seriously ill in the vehicle in front and Kate in a terrible state. He wanted it to be a bad dream. In a moment he would wake up and find he was in bed at home with absolutely nothing amiss. Ahead, the ambulance pulled out to overtake a heavily laden lorry in the nearside lane of the dual carriageway. Sandy did the same and hit the wall of spray coming from the lorry’s wheels. He turned the wipers up to maximum speed. This was no dream. It was a nightmare.

Kate and Sandy sat on a bench in the hospital corridor while Amanda underwent further tests. They stood up when the doctor who had been dealing with her came out and introduced himself.

‘Mr and Mrs Chapman? I’m Dr Turner.’

‘How is she, Doctor?’ asked Kate.

‘She’s pretty low at the moment but I should stress that she’s not in any danger. There’s just been a build-up of toxic substances in her blood because of the kidney problem. Once we clear these away she’s going to feel a whole lot better, I promise you.’

‘Any idea why she went into renal failure?’ asked Sandy.

‘Impossible to say at this stage,’ replied Turner. ‘But there are a lot of tests we still have to do over the next few days.’

‘Is there a chance that this was just a one-off problem?’ asked Kate.

Turner displayed the unease of a man being asked to provide an encouraging answer he knew he couldn’t give. ‘I … I don’t really feel that’s likely,’ he said.

‘So you think she’ll need further dialysis?’ said Sandy.

‘It’s early days yet, but in all honesty I fear so. That’s usually the case.’

Sandy felt his spirits sink and his limbs become heavy. The chances were that Amanda was going to need regular dialysis from now on unless … He shut out thoughts of what might lie ahead and tried to confine himself to what was going to happen tonight.

‘Is it okay if we stay?’ he asked.

‘Of course,’ replied Turner. ‘But if you’ll take my advice you’ll go home and get some rest. She’s in good hands.’

‘But what if she should need us in the—’

Turner shook his head. ‘We’re going to keep her well sedated. Come back tomorrow. We’ll be able to tell you much more after we’ve carried out some more tests.’

Reluctantly, because all Kate’s instincts said that she should stay near Amanda, Sandy and Kate took Turner’s advice. It was a thirty-mile drive back to Ayrshire but the roads would be quiet in the early hours of the morning and the rain had settled down to a drizzle rather than the earlier downpour. They didn’t speak much as they walked to the car down the wet cobbled lane at the side of the hospital. They were both preoccupied with their own thoughts and could think of nothing encouraging to say to each other. A black cat that scurried off among the dustbins seemed to be the only other living creature in the darkness of the night.