The adoption process took another four months, but on my 14th birthday, I officially became Sarah Torres. Rachel threw a small party with some of her friends and a few kids I’d met through the hospital’s support group. We ate chocolate cake. I was having a good week and could actually keep food down. And Rachel gave me a necklace with a pendant that had both our initials intertwined.
“You’re mine now,” she said, fastening it around my neck. “Forever.”
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When I was 15 and finally finished active treatment, entering the maintenance phase with just monthly checkups, Rachel sat me down for another serious talk.
“You’ve missed almost two years of normal school. You’re academically behind, and that’s not your fault. You’ve been fighting for your life. But I want you to know something. You’re brilliant, Sarah. I’ve watched you devour those books, ask questions that make doctors think twice, problem solve in ways that amaze me. You have so much potential, and I’m not going to let cancer or your biological parents’ cruelty steal that from you.”
She enrolled me in an online advanced curriculum program and hired a tutor. She stayed up late helping me with homework she barely understood. She celebrated every small victory, every A on a test, every concept I mastered, every goal I reached.
“Why are you doing all this?” I asked her once when she was falling asleep over my calculus homework at 11 p.m. “You work full-time. You’re exhausted. Why push me so hard?”
She looked up and her eyes were fierce.
“Because your biological parents told you that you were average, that you had no potential. That your sister’s future was worth saving and yours wasn’t. I’m going to prove them wrong. We’re going to prove them wrong. You’re going to do extraordinary things, Sarah Torres, and the whole world is going to know it.”
By 16, I’d caught up to my grade level. By 17, I was ahead of it, taking college level courses. Rachel’s house was always filled with books, study materials, and the smell of coffee as we worked side by side. Her on nursing journals, me on AP homework.
But it wasn’t all academics. Rachel made sure I had a life, too. She took me to concerts, museums, and plays. She taught me to cook and let me make disastrous messes in the kitchen. She introduced me to her friends who became my aunts and uncles. She made sure I went to therapy to process everything I’d been through.
“Healing isn’t just physical,” she’d say. “Your heart needs care, too.”
When I turned 18 and got the five-year all-clear from Dr. Patterson, meaning I was officially in remission with minimal chance of relapse, Rachel took me out to our favorite restaurant.
Over pasta and breadsticks, she pulled out a small box.
“I know you’re technically an adult now and you don’t need me to be your legal guardian anymore, but I want you to know you’re my daughter. That’s never going to change. Whether you live here or move away, whether you’re 18 or 80, you’re my kid always.”
Inside the box was a ring, simple and silver, with both our birthstones.
“To remind you that you’re never alone,” Rachel said.
I wore that ring every single day.
During my senior year of high school, Rachel and I started talking seriously about college. My grades were exceptional, 4.0 GPA, perfect scores on AP exams, strong SAT scores. I discovered a passion for medicine during my treatment, wanting to be like Dr. Patterson and Rachel, someone who helps people through their darkest times.
“I want to apply to Johns Hopkins,” I told Rachel one evening. “Their pre-med program is one of the best in the country, and their medical school, it’s a dream.”
Johns Hopkins was also obscenely expensive. Even with financial aid, it would be a stretch. Rachel didn’t hesitate.
“Then that’s where you’re applying. We’ll figure out the money. You apply to Hopkins, and you’re going to get in.”
She was right. In March of my senior year, I got my acceptance letter from Johns Hopkins University with a substantial scholarship. Between the scholarship, grants, and federal loans, the cost was manageable. Rachel insisted on covering my living expenses.
“You focus on school,” she said. “I’ve got this.”
