Stories I Hate

"He's right here. Do you want to talk to him?" Nothing like being put in a hard spot.

"Sure," I said. "That'd be great."

The little boy on the phone sounded fine. He sounded like any other 9 year old that I've talked to except he has brain cancer and things are not looking good. He told me he thought the fundraiser was "a good one," and that he was having a good day. He's been throwing up a lot recently and he has a lot bad days. But today was good.

Here's the thing: He doesn't know how sick he is and I didn't want to be the one to tell him with my story.

I can't stand covering the deaths or the impending deaths of young people. We've had a lot of them in the past two weeks.

One of the LJs had to interview the mom of a 16 year old who broke his neck while dirt bike riding. When his picture came across the fax machine it hurt. He was a handsome kid with his whole life in front of him.

Another LJ covered the deaths of a 19 year old and his 22 year old sister. Her fiance ended up dying, as well. They were killed in a car crash in Kentucky. None were wearing seat belts and all were killed when they were thrown from the car. The fiance lived for three days longer than the siblings. When she got the call about his death, she gasped and then went into the bathroom to cry a little.

We don't always know these people, but we still take their deaths hard.

When I was working at the other newspaper 10 years ago we had 10 year old girl who burned to death in a fiery car crash. The mother went back and rescued the 2 year old daughter and the 6 year old daughter. When the mom when back for the unconscious 10 year old, the van was consumed by flames. Passersby burned themselves trying to cut her free from the van. It was terribly tragic. I remember meeting up with other LJs at the Sheriff's Department. They worked in radio and from other papers. Usually competitors, we all felt the same pain.

I went to the funeral for that one. My editor made me. It was horrible. The girl's church used it as an opportunity to recruit more souls. I was sickened and I cried right along with everyone else. How could I not? And then my editor didn't use the story.

So I wrote my sick kid fundraiser story. "If it comes down to quantity or quality, the quality has got to be there," one adult said. Maybe the quote is ambiguous enough that he won't understand that he's going to die and die soon.

After it ran I started getting calls, people wanting to donate.

I guess it will be quality of life for this little boy.

I wish it were both.

TARB