Brenda's Story

The run from her front door to the street had never bothered Brenda before, in fact, she never thought of it as a run since it was so short. But by the time Brenda had reached the car, which was waiting for her, she felt tired and winded. Thinking back, Brenda could remember herself feeling sick and tired more and more often, since she started high school. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead, even in the chilly winter weather as she closed the car door.

"Girl…you okay?" Her friend Abby Morgan asked.

"Yeah." Brenda said as she took in a deep breath, "Come on, boys await!"

Abby nodded as she pulled the car away from the curb and drove down the street. Brenda took off her sweater as wiped her forehead.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Abby asked as they pulled into the parking lot of the local skating rink.

"Yes. I'm just hot, mom's got the thermostat set on extra crispy today." Brenda joked as she smiled. The truth was far from such. In the past few months, Brenda began to feel tired and weak, although she was keeping the same routine she'd kept for over a year and a half.

Following Abby out of the parking lot and into the skating rink, Brenda pushed her the worries out of her head as she slipped on her skates. Summer had just ended and Brenda had welcomed the new school year with open arms. She was relieved she wasn't a lowly freshman anymore, and at 16, she could finally drive.

Once she finished lacing up her skates, Brenda followed Abby out onto the ice. The Zamboini had just passed over the rink, creating a smooth flawless surface for the girls to skate on. Brenda had been talking figure skating lessons since she was five, and always found a day at the rink calmed her and made her problems seem less severe.

As she moved over the ice, Brenda closed her eyes. Butterflies began flittering in her stomach as she took in the smell of the ice. Opening her eyes, she could see Abby on the other side of the empty rink. The skating rink always opened promptly at 10 am, and since Abby and Brenda didn't have to clock in until five before, they would wake up as early as they could to skate before they had to begin work at the rink. Turning her head and arching her back, Brenda turned her skates and flew in the air into a double axle. With a gold medal worthy landing, she skated into a series of jumps. Just as Brenda was about to make another leap into the air, she suddenly grabbed her thigh, sending her off balance and crashing into the ice below her. Her thigh throbbed with pain as she lay on the ice. Suddenly the pain stopped, then began moving its way up her body.

"ABBY!" Brenda screamed as she began crying from the pain.

"What happened?" Abby asked as she rushed to her friend.

"I don't know, I must have pulled something, I don't know what happened." She said as Abby helped her stand. "Ah, ouch. No, stop. I can't move it." Brenda told her.

"Okay, stay here, I'll go get the walker." Abby said as she skated to the other side of the rink to retrieve a metal frame of a senior citizen type walker, to help Brenda get off the ice. When Abby turned back to look at Brenda, a long terrifying scream came out of her throat as she saw Brenda lying on the ice, unconscious.

*Two Hours Later*

"What happened? Abby calls me and tells me you fainted on the ice and she had to call an ambulance for you because you wouldn't wake up!" Brenda's mom cried as she came running into the Emergency room followed by her husband, Brenda's stepfather.

"I'm okay, I guess I'm just tired." She assured her mother as she sat up.

"Are you sure?" Her stepfather asked as he felt he forehead. A doctor walked into the room; "She'll be fine. She pulled a muscle, and she's got some bruises from falling on the ice, but she'll make a full recovery.

As the weeks went by, Brenda found it harder and harder to stay awake in class, and soon she was getting sick all the time. Constant aches and pains made her quit her skating classes until she felt better, but things slowly progressed down hill until the fateful day Brenda was rushed back to the hospital.

Brenda lay immobile in the hospital bed, she groaned in pain as she tried to move her head.

"This is ridiculous mom, we've been waiting here for hours." Brenda turned her head to see her mom, teary-eyed; leaning against the wall while her stepfather paced the length of the room. Moments later, a doctor walked into the room, followed by yet another doctor, and then a third. Her mother looked up, and her stepfather stopped his pacing.

"What is it?" Brenda's mother asked. The first doctor looked up at her, "Your symptoms have been reoccurring frequently over the course of this year. Had we gotten to it sooner-" He cut off, "I'm afraid Brenda has very advanced leukemia." He said softly, "Our only option at this point is a bone marrow transplant."

"But," Brenda told the doctor, "My mother doesn't have the same blood type as I do, and he's my stepfather." She said, "I don't have any other siblings." She said as tears began to form in her eyes. "This can't be happening." Brenda cried.

The doctors nodded understandingly, "We'll leave you alone now." The first doctor said as the three walked out.

"Mom, how can this be?" Brenda asked, "I've always been healthy…except lately."

Her mother glanced at her stepfather for a moment, then turned to her daughter, "Honey, there's something I you need to know." Her mother began slowly, "When your father and I married, we tried everything we could to have a child, but" Her mother began to cry, "But we couldn't, I couldn't, so we moved on to the next step. We adopted."

"You…I?" Brenda asked, "You mean, I'm adopted? Is that why your blood type? And my hair?" Brenda asked. Her hair, which was long, brown, and straight, looked nothing like her mother's or father's, who both had curly blond hair.

"Yes." Her mother said as she nodded, "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner, but that isn't all. You do have sisters, you have four sisters."

"How? How is it you know this?" Brenda asked through her tears.

"When we went to the adoption agency, they said they were trying to place five baby sisters-quintuplet sisters. We said we only wanted one child, that was all we could afford, so they ended up separating the five girls, and here you are." Her mother said as hot tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"Do you know where they are? My, my sisters?" Brenda asked.

"No. They wouldn't tell us." Her mother said, "But we'll find them, we'll do whatever it takes to find them."

Brenda nodded slowly as she wiped the tears from her face.

*Two Weeks Later*

Typing furiously at her computer, Brenda began scribbling down names onto a notepad.

"Mom, does it say anything about their last names?" Brenda asked as she stopped typing.

"No honey." Her mother said as she sat down on the bed next to her and looked at her daughter's laptop. "Just their first names, your mother wanted you to keep your birth names, so you'd be able to find each other."

"Well, I've got a bunch of names here, I'd better get started." Brenda said as she hit the print button on her computer. Once her printer had finished her mother began stuffing envelopes; each addressed to a different person, but each containing the same message:

Dear Recipient,

Please do not discard this letter until you've read my plea. I am a sixteen year-old high school sophomore from Pasadena California. I am in no way asking for money or services of any kind.

In the past two weeks, I was diagnosed with an advanced stage of leukemia. While there are no drugs or treatment I can undergo to save my life, there is an operation, which might help me live to graduate high school. A bone marrow transplant is my only chance of survival. However, I was adopted as an infant, and I currently do not know where my 4 sisters are.

I was born on July 3, 1982 to Britney Mitkem of Los Angeles California. At the time, my mother was 18 years old, and had just graduated high school the day before. I, along with my four sisters was delivered within 10 minutes of each other. With the newfound knowledge that I am an identical quintuplet, I stand a 89% chance of a full recovery if I can find my lost sisters. Upon their birth, my sister's first & middle names were as follows:
Becka Ann Rose
Belle Bre Ivy
Brooklyn Dawn Laurel
Byanka Elayne Daisy

I am writing to you because I received information that you or someone living in your household shares the same name as one of my sisters. If this person also shares my birth date and physical features, please write back to me or call me day or night at 555-555-4053. My picture is enclosed with this letter. Thank you for you time.

Brenda Cora Lily Anderson

As her mother dropped the envelopes into the mailbox, Brenda hoped against odds that one, if not all of her sisters would be found.