Читать книгу The Daddy Dilemma - Karen Rose Smith - Страница 7

She was going to save her mother’s life.

As Sara Hobart lay on the surgical center gurney, she knew she’d done the right thing. She’d had no choice.

Her friend Joanne, who worked at the fertility clinic, sat by her bed, her black ringlets tumbling around her face as she declared vehemently, “No one should be denied treatment because they can’t afford to pay. With the ten thousand for donating your eggs, you’ll have enough to give the hospital to go through with your mother’s transplant. Right?”

“Along with the fund-raising money, we’ll have enough. We can tell her doctor to begin treatment. Thank you so much for helping me. For being here today. I never thought I’d do anything like this—” Emotion tightened Sara’s throat. Her mom deserved every chance to prolong her life, and Sara would do anything in her power to make it happen.

Joanne patted Sara’s hand. “You’re not only helping your mom, you’re giving a childless couple a chance to conceive. Your eggs are going to a worthy recipient.”

Of course her friend couldn’t divulge the names of the people she’d be helping. The couple’s criteria had been simple: eggs from a healthy woman, twenty-eight or younger, with a 1300+ SAT score. A law student, Sara had fit the bill. When Joanne had given her the idea, it had been a godsend.

“The couple you’re donating to already had two in vitro attempts that failed,” Joanne further explained.

Sara never would have considered going through this procedure if her mother hadn’t gotten ill. But bone marrow transplant treatment was considered experimental with her mom’s rare blood disorder, and was more expensive than they had ever realized. Although Sara had written appeal letter after appeal letter, the insurance company had denied coverage. Because her mother didn’t have time to wait any longer, Sara had decided the only thing to do was to raise the money herself. Joanne as well as other friends had helped with the fund-raisers in their small town ten miles outside of Minneapolis, but they’d come up thousands short, even for the down payment.

When Sara had been accepted as a donor by the clinic, she’d told her mom, and they’d both cried tears of relief…and of hope. Sara couldn’t imagine a world without her mother in it. She’d never had a father, never had uncles or aunts or cousins. She and her mom only had each other, and were best friends. But Joanne was a very good friend, too. In fact, she was taking the afternoon off to drive her to her apartment.

Sara pushed her blond hair from her temple, ready to take the next step to make her mom well. “When I get home, I can make the call to the financial services director at Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital. Mom can start treatment as soon as they can fit her in.”

Although Sarah was hopeful, fear still gripped her…the same fear that had gnawed at her ever since her mother received her diagnosis. Would the transplant work?

Underneath worry for her mom, Sara thought about the procedure she’d just experienced. She had lots of eggs. Giving away a few wouldn’t affect her life at all. In spite of her career, she did want children some day. After she became a partner in a law firm, she would consider it.

Some day.

Would her mother see someday with her?

Sarah could only pray she would.