For the next month or so, Aran has been accompanying his mother to the physical therapy sessions that was recommended to her. Wanfahmai was happy to see that when she happened to pass them by while she was making her rounds. She was making her way back to her office when her phone rang,

“Hello, Prof…”

Wanfahmai… Could you please come to my office?

“Sure… Will do…”

She knocked on her professor’s door to see that there was a visitor in his room.

“Ah~ Wanfahmai… Take a seat… And by the way, this is Dr. Panya… He is from our paediatrics department…”

“Oh… Hi…” as Wanfahmai shook his hand before looking at her professor, “What’s going on, Prof?”

“Dr. Panya wants to work with you… If you are willing…”

“Huh? How can I be of help?”

“I’ll let Dr. Panya explain to you…” replied Prof. Sahat before Dr. Panya took over, “Well, we have a patient who is 7 years old… He came to us with cancer of the lungs, for that we manage to remove the cancerous tumour and he was in remission. But now it seems that the cancer has spread as the last scan that we did just a week ago, we found cancer cells in his brain. I heard that you are part of a group that was spearheading a new kind of treatment for brain cancer... And I hope that you would take a look at him and see if he would be eligible for it?” 

“Can I see the scans?” asked Wanfahmai to which the Prof expand it on his computer screen for her to study the image.

“Prof… Are there no other traditional methods that might be suitable? I mean he is a child… I am not sure if he can withstand clinical trials…”

“His parents are willing to give it a try…” as Dr. Panya chimed in.

“Are they not willing to go for a full head radiation?”

“The parents saw how much their son suffered during his chemotherapy for his lungs… That’s why they are willing to try alternative methods…”

Wanfahmai was hesitant, “Why don’t you just take a look at him first, will you?” asked Dr. Panya.

“Okay, I will…”

“Are they in the hospital right now?”

“Yes, they are…”

“Alright… Let’s go then…”

As they were walking side by side to each other, Wanfahmai requested to drop by her office to get some leaflet before continuing their walk, when Dr. Panya spoke, “I heard only good things from Arthichard…” as he casually mentioned Wanfahmai’s attending physician back when she was still studying at Imperial College London.

“You know my Prof?”

“Yes… He is my friend… He’s involved in a lot of research study… And one of those things is being spearheaded by you at this moment.”

“So, he told you about mine?”

“Yes... I spoke to him in regards to this case and he mentioned you by name… Since you were suggesting the possibility of treating cancer cells without having to perform traditional open brain surgery…”

“Are the parents aware of the risks? I mean this trial can have adverse effect than what we imagined it to be… It might be worse than the effects of chemotherapy have on him… I know chemo is not the best solution but because it works that the treatment is still being recommended.”

“So far, how many patients are currently undergoing this treatment?”

“Eight… If he is eligible, he will be the ninth but he is the only child so far in this study…”

“We are all exploring unchartered territories when it comes to dealing with cancer… And if we don’t even do anything to help him at all, his death is inevitable…”

Wanfahmai stepped into the consultation room along with Dr. Panya to a family who was waiting for her decision. She took a look at the boy and he was pale and weak. She was conflicted as she did not want bring their hopes up but his parents were looking at her with the most hopeful pair of eyes. She suggested for the parent to go into another room for a chat. She explained to them of the treatment that is still in the clinical trial phase and the risks that will be involved. She tried to explain as realistically as she could, informing them of possible outcomes, desirable or non-desirable alike. She told them to give it a thought as she handed out information that would be helpful to make an informed decision.

It was the third month since the patient who had suffered a showed major improvements physiologically. Wanfahmai came into the room and greeted the patient,

“Mr. Pong… How are you doing today?”

“I’m doing good…” as the patient replied with a hoarse voice and difficulty due to the that he had suffered.

“I am glad that you are feeling better… Then we can move on to remove the tumour that has been causing you problems in your daily life…” stated Wanfahmai with the patie