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    tab Jennifer Logan lay in the hospital bed, her cheeks pale, and the bags under her eyes heavy. Her breathing had gotten more and more shallow every hour. She was dying of cancer. The doctors told her she only had a few more days to live. Her daughter, Angela, and husband, Brian, were coming to visit her today. She didn’t want to face her only remaining family members like this. She didn’t want them to see her this way.
    tab Just then, Angela walked in, followed by her father. Brian went over to Jennifer and held her hand.
    tab “I don’t want to die,” Jennifer whispered, low enough that Angela couldn’t hear. “I don’t want to be like this, I just want to be well and happy,” she said, tears rolling down her almost white cheeks.
    tab “I know. Nobody chooses this. It’s not your fault, Jen,” Brian said to his wife. He stared into her sad, green eyes. Her eyelids had dropped more since he had last been able to see her. He leaned in to his wife’s ear. “I love you,” he whispered.
    tab Jennifer looked at Brian and the tears became stronger. “I love you too,” she whispered back. She gripped his hand, not ever wanting to let go. Brian pulled away, turned around, and looked out the window.
    tab Now it was Angela’s turn. The child was only 8, and hardly knew anything about cancer. She knew that her mother was dying, though. “Mommy, I love you,” she said, on the verge of tears.
    tab Jennifer gently wiped the tears off of her daughters face. “I know. I love you too. I think about you every day,” she said, trying not to think about how much time she had left.
    tab “Mommy, I don’t want you to go,” Angela cried. “I don’t,” she said.
    tab “Angie, it’s okay. Everybody has to go sometime,” Jennifer said. She felt the tears coming back. “God just chose this time to take me. Angie, promise me one thing,” she said.
    tab “What, mommy, what do you want me to promise you?” Angela said.
    tab Jennifer looked deep into her daughters brown eyes. “I want you to promise me you won’t cry when I go,” she said, fighting back more tears. “There’s already enough sadness in this world. I don’t want to add to it. Please. Just promise,” Jennifer said.
    tab “Okay…I promise. I won’t cry. I’ll try not to,” Angela said, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
    tab Brian wiped the tears off of his face, and turned around to face his wife. He walked over to her, kissed her, took Angela’s hand, and they left.

    tab Three days later, while Brian was finishing a cup of coffee, the phone rang. Brian got up, thinking it was his boss, and answered it.
    tab “Hello, this is the Logan residence, this is Brian,” he said into the phone.
    tab “Hello, Mr. Logan? This is Doctor Lemming, from the hospital…I’m calling about your wife, Jennifer…” the person on the other line began.
    tab Brian stopped breathing. His heart skipped a beat. A thousand tears began to roll down his cheeks. “She…she’s gone, isn’t she?” he said.
    tab “Yes. I’m terribly sorry. She went quickly and painlessly, in her sleep.” Doctor Lamming replied.
    tab Brian couldn’t talk. He couldn’t breathe. His wife was dead. He would never see Jennifer again.
    tab “We can set up funeral services for her if you’d like,” the doctor said slowly.
    tab Finally, Brian found his voice again. “Yes...that would be nice. She wanted to be buried next to her parents, Olivia and Jack. They are at…uhm…Holy Hope Cemetery. Her plot number should be 152. Thank…thank you,” he said, a tear rolling down his cheek. He turned around, and saw Angela, standing in the middle of the room, staring at him. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were pink. She was trembling, tears flowing evenly from her eyes, one after the other.
    tab “Mommy died, didn’t she?” Angela said quietly. Brian nodded. Angela collapsed, shaking furiously. She wailed. The tears were now exploding from her eyes. It was as if the floodgates behind her eyes had been opened. Her mother was dead. Dead. Forever. She would never get to see her warm, loving smile again.

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    tab 26-year-old Angela Pendinsky walked down the hall of the hospital. Three years ago, she had gotten married to Jack Pendinsky. She was now a doctor at University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) in New Jersey. She had wanted to be a doctor ever since her mother died 18 years ago. Her mother always used to tell her that she could be whatever she wanted to be when she grew up. She had pursued her dream, and she would do everything she could to help find a cure for cancer. She didn’t want any more people to go through what she had to go through. She knew that millions of people had to go through the pain and sorrow of cancer every day, but maybe she could help reduce that number if she could find a better treatment for, or maybe even a cure for cancer.