After my husband, Leo Barton, sent me back to my hometown for a month, he used this window to remove my daughter’s kidney to save his childhood sweetheart, Rosette Smith.
While his childhood sweetheart was rescued, my daughter caught a severe case of acute kidney failure due to an infection.
When I rushed to the hospital to see my daughter, she strained a smile and whimpered, “Mom… I saved Aunt Rosette. Does that mean… does that mean that Dad won’t leave us?”
Her pupils had become dilated and her arms drooped off the side of the bed. She died with her eyes open.
I sat stunned in silence by the bed, feeling as if someone had gouged out my heart.
I started frantically calling Leo, and as soon as the call was connected, I heard him saying, “Rosette, I’m here. I won’t leave you! Your body just has a mild reaction to the new kidney. You’ll be okay after you get some rest back home.”
Before I could even get a word out, he roared into the phone to shut me up, “Why are you being so dramatic? Can’t you just drop it already? I have better things to do than stirring up drama all day like you!”
Then, he hung up on me. The droning tone on the phone stung my nerves. I dug my nails into my palms and felt a spark of anger inside me.
My beloved daughter was gone. They had to pay for this!
I endured the grief and anger that threatened to overwhelm me and proceeded to ask the nurse more about my daughter’s hospitalization process.
To my surprise, I was told that after enduring such a significant operation, my daughter was given nothing but regular takeout food to eat every day.
