Metastasis (Final Draft)

It was a chilly autumn afternoon. The brisk winds were howling and the brightly colored leaves were swirling throughout the air. Anthony was headed home after a long, stressful day. Life was pretty tough for Anthony. The kids at his school were pretty rough on him. His excellent grades and various academic achievements made him the perfect victim for bullying. His recent acceptance to Harvard just aggravated the problem. His father was extremely proud of him. He was his only companion. His mother left when he was 6. He hated her for what she did, but couldn’t help feel that she was missing from his life. Still, his father was the only person he needed in his life

"Move, stupid!” shouted one of his classmates as he was crossing the street.

 "I`m s-s-sorry", he uttered.

“Yeah, you better be, dumbass", said his classmate as he walked away.

 “H-have a nice day!” Anthony said in a croaking voice.

As he was approaching his house, he felt a sense of relief; like drinking water on a hot day. He ran to his house and slammed the door.

“I`m here, dad!”, he said enthusiastically.

“How was school, son?, asked his father.

“It was okay. I didn’t get beat up today.”

“Son, if those kids keep harassing you, just tell me. Please. I`m here to make sure nothing happens to you. If I have to get the authorities involved, then so be it.”

“No, no dad. I`m okay. I can deal with them”, said Anthony.

 “Okay. I trust you. Now, what do you want for dinner?” his father asked him.

“I`m not hungry. Maybe just a peanut butter jelly sandwich?”

 “Sure thing, sport. Let me just go to the cellar to get a new jar of jelly”, said his father.

As his father walked down the old, creaky wooden stairs that led to the cellar, he noticed an envelope on the kitchen table “TO MR. DAVID GARFIELD”, it read. It was from the hospital.


 “Dear Mr. Garfield, we regret to inform you that the results came back positive. We discovered a malignant tumor in your lungs that has started to spread. At this point, we believe that you are showing symptoms of a patient that is experiencing  the 4th stage of lung cancer. I`m afraid that if you do not receive the required treatment, you may die within the next 24 months……” Anthony froze. His hands were colder than ice. He was dumbfounded.

“You read the letter, didn’t you?”, asked his father as he placed the jar of purple jelly on the kitchen table.

Anthony couldn’t hold back the tears. He ran to his father and hugged him like he never hugged him before.

 “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? WHY?!”, Anthony exclaimed. “I didn’t want to scare you, sport.” “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?”, asked Anthony in a cracking voice.

 “No. I`m going to start chemotherapy next week. Hopefully the chemotherapy helps. Just, please Anthony, please focus on your education. I`ll be fine.”

 At that moment, his father embraced his son and both started sobbing.

“*sniff*, hand me the bread, sport”, said his father.

“I`m not hungry anymore.”, said Anthony.

“Son you have to eat something.”

 “No. I`m not hungry!” Anthony ran to his room and shut the door.

 “WHY GOD? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME! I HAVE BEEN NOTHING BUT LOYAL TO YOU! WHY?”

 He yanked his crucifix off the wall and threw it across the room. “WHYYYYYYYY?”, he thought to himself. He stood up and turned on his laptop. “LUNG CANCER TREATMENT/CURES”, he typed on the search bar. He opened a lung cancer society webpage. “According to many experts, there is no known cure for lung cancer. Chemotherapy is the best way to deal with the symptoms produced by lung cancer” “Damn it! There must be a cure! There must be a f****** cure! Aghhhhhhhh!”, he thought to himself. “Relax Anthony. Just relax. Father is going to be all right. Just focus on your education and don’t be pessimistic. Everything will be alrigh…”, just before he could finish his thoughts, he

fell into a deep slumber.

            * riiiing* *riiing* As Anthony stood up to pick up the phone, he remembered his father's condition. "Relax, Anthony. It was just a dream.", he thought to himself. He picked up the phone. "

Hello?” asked Anthony.

"Hello, this is Doctor Sanders. Is your father home?"

"Not at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?", asked Anthony.

"Yes. May you tell your father that his chemotherapy appointment will be next week?"

 Anthony felt like he was kicked in the stomach. Then and there he knew it was not a dream. His father is dying.

 "S-sure thing, doc", said Anthony shakily.

He hung up, trembling with fear. “Lung cancer. Lung cancer.” The words kept ringing in his ear like a defective morning alarm.  “There is no known cure. Nothing. Nothing at all.” “If no one can help my father, then I will try to do everything in my power to try to help him”, he thought to himself. “ I have always been interested in the medical field. Oncology is a very fascinating subject. Perhaps I can expand my knowledge of everything cancer related. I will not stop until something is done to help my father.’

Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Months became years. Anthony’s father’s health was slowly decreasing. His father became frail and lighter. He had no hair on his head because of the amount of chemotherapy sessions he had to go through. The doctor who had called Anthony to say that his father only had 24 months to live was wrong. 5 years later, his father was still living; weak, depilated, and frail, but living. Anthony was now 23 years old and entering medical school in another state.

“I`m so proud of you, so-*cough* *wheeze*.” His father was no longer able to speak in complete sentences.  

“Here dad”, said Anthony as he handed him his Methotrexate pills.

 "My clock is t-*cough* ticking, son. If one day I`m not on this Earth, I want you to continue to pursue your dream of becoming an oncologist. You *cough* can make a difference in this world. "


"Don't cry, Dad. I promise I will make a difference. Cross my heart", said Anthony as tears started streaming down his father's eyes. The mere sight of his father made Anthony want to burst in tears. He embraced his father as he wiped his tear-filled eyes.

"I`m going to be here for you; just like how you were there for me when mom left and just like how you were there for me when I was constantly bullied and harassed", said Anthony in a cracking voice.

"*cough* I love you, son. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me *cough*.

The next day, Anthony woke up next to his father's bed. "Dad. Dad wake up. It's time to take your pills." Nothing. "DAD," shouted Anthony as he shook his father. "No, no, no, no, no. Please, no, please wake up, please," yelled Anthony uncontrollably. Tears burst out his eyes like a river. He tried to look for a pulse, but to no avail. His father had enough; cancer won the battle.

The day of his funeral was gray and melancholy. Everyone was mourning his father's death; everyone except Anthony. After his father was buried, Anthony just stared at his grave. No tears, no facial expression. His face was a blank canvas, just waiting to be painted on. Before he left his father's grave, he turned and whispered

"I promised you I was going to make a change in this world, dad. Before I leave this Earth, I will make sure no one succumbs to cancer. THAT I swear to you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cross he threw across his room the day he found out his father was diagnosed with cancer, placed it on his grave, and walked away.

6 years after his father's death, he finally became an oncologist. He worked with other oncologists who also aspired to find a cure for cancer. Every day they met in their lab and worked for hours and hours.

"What you got there?", asked John, Anthony's lab partner.

"Wallah! A naked mole rat", said Anthony excitedly.

"What an ugly thing! What are you going to use that for? Is it going to give you beauty tips? Hahaha"

"No. I have been doing extensive research and found a theory that suggests that mole rat cells possess cells that inhibit cancer cells. I`m going to determine whether that is false or if it is true", said Anthony.


"Pfft. Yeah, right. That mole looks as useful as a sack of potatoes, but hey, knock yourself out", said John.

Anthony entered his laboratory and extracted cells from the animal. He then took out a vial that contained canceraneous cells and added the animal cells. All he had to do now was wait for at least a month to see how exactly the animal cells affected the cancerous cells.

"Alright, I`m done. Make sure that no *cough cough* no one touches the vials inside this r-*cough* *cough*. "

"Are you okay, Anthony?", asked John.

"I`m fine. Just a small coug-*cough* *cough*."

"If the cough persists for a few more days then you should see a doctor", suggested John.

"I said I`m fine, man. A glass of water should do the trick."

As he started drinking the water, he started to cough violently.

"Oh jeez. That was pretty bad. Do you have any cough syrup on you?", asked Anthony.

"Yeah. Top left drawer", said John.

Anthony took the purple medicine and was suddenly transported to the time when he discovered that his father was diagnosed with cancer. He remembered the bright purple jelly his father held in his hand right after he made that horrifying discovery.

"Are you okay, man?", asked John.

"I'm fine", said Anthony as he proceeded to ingest the bitter, purple medicine.

"They should really make these cough syrups taste better. They taste like *cough* crap", said Anthony.

"I'd rather take medicine that tastes like crap over dying of a severe cough," responded John jokingly.

"That's true. Well, I'm going home to get some rest. See you tomorrow", said Anthony.

"Alright, man. Say hello to your wif-, oh wait, you don't have one hahaha."

"Very funny, asshole. Goodnight, man."

That night Anthony began to have violent cough outbursts so he decided to go to the hospital.

"So what seems to be the problem, sir?"

"I've been experiencing violent cough outbursts yesterday. I don't know why. They just came out of the blue."

The doctor checked his pulse, breathing rate, everything.

"You seem quite healthy, Mr. Garfield. I suggest you rest for the next few days. I'm prescribing a stronger dose of dextromethorphan to reduce the severity of the coughs."

"Thanks, doc."

Anthony went home and called John to inform him that he wasn't coming in for a couple of days. He slumped onto his bed, took the medicine prescribed by his doctor, and went to sleep. He rested and took his medicine for a week and felt better.

"Ah I see that you're back. Feelin' better?", asked John.

"Like a million bucks", replied Anthony with a smirk on his face.

He proceeded to go into his lab to check on his experiment. The discovery shocked him. As he scanned the sample, he noticed that there were no signs of cancer left. Nothing. A sudden rush of joy engulfed his body. All he needed to do now is perform a few more experiments and contact the FDA. This would take a long time, however. He estimated that it would take about a year or two. He was willing to wait.

"So? How's your little experiment?", asked John.

Anthony knew that if he told John he would spill the beans and tell everyone in the department. He wanted to keep it a secret until he was positive that the mole rat cells were capable of destroying%100 of the cancerous cells.

"Nothing yet", he replied.

"You're wasting your time, Anthony. That mole rat will get you nowhere. The greatest minds in the world have not even able to find a cure. What makes you think you can? Pfft", said John as he walked away.

"You'll see", uttered Anthony.

Anthony spent hours and hours in his lab. Countless hours, days, and months. The picture of his father on his desk motivated him to keep going, but he felt different. He noticed he was losing weight and was coughing excessively. He took bottles and bottles of cough syrup, but nothing helped. This didn't stop him, though.  He was oblivious to the fact that something was affecting his body. Nevertheless, he finally had enough evidence to prove that mole rat cells can indeed destroy cancerous cells. "This is all for you, dad", said Anthony in a groggy voice. "*cough* *wheeze* *sputter*." Just as he removed his hand from his mouth, he saw a droplets of red, shiny blood on his hand. He knew that something was seriously wrong with him, but he thought that if he took time off to seek treatment, somebody would find a cure before him. He waited too long. Just before presenting his cure to the public, he collapsed and died.

Autopsies determined that he was suffering from stage 3 of lung cancer. The cancer was metastatic cancer, so it spread all over his body. Doctors also determined that the cancer that was affecting him was genetic. The cancer spread from family member to family member. His cancer research, however, was found and spread throughout the world, thus leading to a cure. Complete Metastasis.