Saving Jessica

Jessica McMillan is a senior in high school. She is a very smart student with dreams of attending Georgetown University. Jessica is dating Jeremy Travino who is not even sixteen yet. Jeremy is a sophomore. The story begins with Jessica being in the hospital for two days. Dr. Kowalski has ran many test on her. Jessica, her family, and Jeremy are told that she has kidney failure. It was a shock to everyone. Jessica would have to begin dialysis immediately three times a week with weekends off. Dialysis takes over the function of your kidneys and it keeps you alive. Dr. Kowalski has been Jessica's doctor since she was an infant. He explains to Jessica and her parents that a couple of years ago, he treated her for a strep throat infection, but not until it was pretty advanced. Untreated strep throat can cause kidney failure. Jessica's diet now has to be monitored very closely. Jeremy helped her parents out a lot. There were many times Jeremy would take her to the hospital for her dialysis. He would come over every day to make sure she was doing okay. He told her that he would always be there for her and that just because she was sick does not mean he thinks any less of her. Jessica was there for him when he was dealing with the death of his brother. Jeremy and him were in a car accident and his brother died. Jeremy walked away from the crash with no injuries or scratches. He felt guilty for a long time but Jessica always told him that God kept him for a purpose. Later on in the story the dialysis does not seem to be making Jessica feel any better. She is always tired, pale, and her hair was getting thin. One day Jeremy came to check on her and he started to notice all of these things. While she was sleeping Jeremy went downstairs to talk to her mother while she was making dinner. She begins to explain to him that Jessica was not doing any better. Yeah the dialysis was keeping her alive but she just was not the same. Jessica’s mother talked to her doctor and he explained to her that they may need to start considering a kidney transplant. Mrs. McMillan told Jeremy that they were considering the transplant. At that time Jeremy begin to think. On Jessica's birthday her parents got her a gold charm bracelet. Jeremy got her a charm that was shaped like a bean. He explained to her that it was suppose to symbolize a kidney. She was confused. Jeremy told her that he wanted to donate one of his kidneys to her. Her parents were ecstatic but Jessica was in shock. He convinced her that it would all be okay. He asked his parents and they did not like the idea at all. They feared that they would lose him. His father did have a point. He tried to explain to Jeremy that he does not know how long him and Jessica will last as a couple, and what if later on in life he has kids and one of them need a kidney he wouldn’t be able to give them one. His mother convinced his father to let him go through the test just to see if he would be a match, but they did not want him to donate his kidney. They highly doubted that he would be a match because he was not a close relative. Neither one of Jessica’s parents was a match but Jeremy turned out to be a match.