All My Tomorrows (21 page)

CHAPTER 23

Early the next morning, Gina drove Maggie and Jordan back to the farm. Inside the front door, Maggie stopped and offered to take Jordan's duffle bag to the bedroom.

"No, I think I'll take it with me back to the apartment. I'll need the clothes that are in it."

"You're going to the apartment? I… I thought you might want to come home," Maggie said.

"I have a significant amount of research to do at the medical library if I'm going to be ready for this presentation in two weeks. It'll be a lot more convenient being within walking distance of the library for the next several days. It'll save you from having to drive me into town every day."

Maggie fell silent, a fact not lost on Jordan.

"Are you okay?" Jordan asked.

Maggie nodded without meeting Jordan's eyes. "I'm just a little disappointed. I was looking forward to you being home."

"I'm looking forward to being home too, but everything is hinging on me convincing the institute to fund the implant project. I'll be working some very long hours over the next two weeks getting ready for the presentation. I just thought it would be easier on both of us if I did it from Burlington."

Maggie continued to avoid Jordan's gaze.

Jordan reached forth and took Maggie's chin in her hand. "Sweetie, look at me." She studied Maggie's face closely and watched a parade of emotions cross her features. "Baby, talk to me."

"I'm afraid you'll never come home, Jordan," Maggie said tearfully.

Jordan smiled. "Is that what this is all about? Sweetheart, wild horses couldn't keep me from coming home once I have the information I need for the presentation. I don't think I'll be gone for more than a week. You can join me if you'd like."

Maggie walked a few steps away then turned to face Jordan. "I can't. Without you here to help John, I'll need to pitch in."

"You do realize that if my proposal is approved, I'll be pretty much working full time on it for the foreseeable future. You might want to consider hiring another farmhand to replace me."

"I suspect if your proposal is approved, a lot of things are going to change around here."

"That's true, but one thing that will not change is my commitment to you. Like I said, I can't begin to describe the planning and effort it took for me to get to you. I am not willing to give up everything the future has in store for us, Maggie. You have nothing to fear. We were destined to be together through all space and time and I promise I'll do nothing to jeopardize that."

Maggie shoved her hands into her pockets and lifted her shoulders to her ears. "Do you want to leave tonight, or tomorrow morning?" she asked.

"That depends on how early you want to get up in the morning. The library will probably open by eight and I'd like to get an early start. I'm sorry you'll have to drive me there, but I have this small issue with having no driver's license in 2019."

"I'm okay with taking you in early. I'd like to spend tonight in our own bed, wrapped in your arms," Maggie replied.

"I was hoping you'd say that," Jordan said.

Maggie looked into Jordan's eyes for several long moments. "I love you, Jordan. I wanted to die when you left. I regretted asking you to leave the moment the words left my mouth. I should have begged you to stay, but this stubborn Irish pride of mine got in the way. Forgive me?"

Jordan gathered Maggie into her arms. "Your stubborn Irish pride is one of the things I love most about you. Please don't ever change. I'm just glad we are here together now. Promise me we'll be more open with one another from now on."

"I promise," Maggie said.

"Me too." Jordan kissed Maggie tenderly. "So what do you say we head into town for dinner? I'd like to try that Japanese steak house on Shelburne Road near the highway."

"You mean Koto's?"

"Yeah, that's the place."

Maggie stepped out of Jordan's embrace and retrieved her purse from the coat hooks behind the door. "Sounds good to me… and while we're out, I want to stop and add a cell phone to my plan for you. If we're going to be spending some time apart, I'd like for us to be able to contact each other no matter where we are."

"Why don't we wait until I'm actually making some money so I can pay for my own cell phone," Jordan suggested.

Maggie frowned. "Now whose pride is getting in the way? Look, Jordan, if we're going to be married, it makes more sense for us to be on the same plan. It's actually cheaper to have a family plan anyway."

Jordan grinned. "Okay, I'll concede that one to you. So, when did you have in mind for us to get married?"

"Well, we originally planned it to be around my birthday, which is in on April sixteenth. I think it's a Tuesday. Today is the seventh, so we should plan it for either next weekend or the weekend after that."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but we need to solve my identity problem before we can get a marriage license. I'm afraid we may have to put the wedding off until after that happens. My presentation is on Monday, April twenty-second, so with any luck we should have that problem fixed not too long after that."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Okay then, I'll keep the date open ended for now."

Jordan's stomach rumbled loud enough for Maggie to hear it.

"The beast is complaining. Time for lunch. Take your bag to the bedroom then we can head out. While you're doing that, I'll pull the truck up to the door."

Jordan picked up her bag and headed in the direction of the bedroom. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, only to stop dead at the vision before her. Moments later, Jordan climbed into the front seat of the pickup truck and looked at Maggie. "Want to explain why half the sheetrock is torn off the bedroom wall?"

* * *

"You can park over there, behind the building," Jordan said the next morning as Maggie pulled into the driveway of the apartment building.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was across the street from the hospital," Maggie remarked.

"The location is the primary reason I want to hold on to it for a while. Like I said, I'll probably be working late on a regular basis and until I can get a driver's license, it will be easier for me to just walk to the apartment than for you to come in from Shelburne to pick me up every day."

Jordan pulled a key ring out of her pocket and worked one of the keys off the ring. She handed it to Maggie. "Here's a spare key to the place in case you want to stay over with me some nights."

Jordan grabbed her duffle bag and climbed out of the truck after Maggie, then walked hand-in-hand with her to the apartment in the back of the building.

"It's really small, but I don't need much room for sleeping," Jordan said as she unlocked and pushed the door open for Maggie to enter first.

"Wow, this is really cute," Maggie said. "It's small, and a little outdated, but cute." Maggie looked around at the flowered wallpaper, craftsman molding around the window and doors, and original pine flooring. On one side of the room was the bed, a desk and a dresser with a TV on top of it. On the other side was a small sink cabinet with a microwave on the counter top, a small cabinet over the sink, and an apartment sized refrigerator beside it. A small bathroom with a claw-foot tub, toilet and sink adjoined the bedroom.

"The landlord is an elderly lady, who actually lives in the front part of the building. I suspect this room was originally part of the main house."

"It's nice that it's on the back side. That should keep the traffic noise to a minimum," Maggie said.

Jordan wrapped her arm around Maggie's waist and pulled her down onto the bed. "C'mere, you," she said as she snuggled with Maggie. "As much as I like this apartment, I'm so very glad I won't be living in it full time. I was not looking forward to living my life without you. Thank you for letting me come home."

"No thanks necessary, Jordan. You should have never left in the first place. I was a fool to let you go." Maggie traced the side of Jordan's face with her index finger. "I'm going to miss you when you don't come home."

"I promise it won't be for long. I'll be home in a few days, and if they accept my proposal, I may end up working late a few nights a week until we have a routine established. If that happens, I'll stay here, but other than that, I'll be home in the evenings."

"I'll be so glad when all this uncertainty is behind us," Maggie said.

"Like what?"

"Well, like the approval for your research foundation, getting you legal documentation, getting married. I have so many plans for our lives together, Jordan, but it's all hanging in limbo right now."

"What kind of plans?"

"For starters, I've always wanted to open a riding school for handicapped children. Considering your situation, I want to do that more than ever."

"You like children, don't you? You were so kind and patient with the children of the construction workers when we had the celebration at the end of the barn raising."

"I guess it comes from being an only child. Hell, I don't even have nieces and nephews to spoil. I would have much preferred to come from a larger family."

"I was an only child too, so I totally understand what you mean. The closest things I've ever had to siblings are Kale and Andi." Jordan fell silent for several long moments.

"You miss them, don't you?" Maggie asked.

Jordan wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Yes, I do. Unfortunately, I'll never see them again."

Maggie traced the line of Jordan's brow with her index finger. "Maybe we can name our first born after one of them," she suggested.

"You would do that?"

"If it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be here with me today. Of course, I would do that. For you, and for them."

"Well, I guess I just agreed to have a baby with you," Jordan pointed out.

"Or two…"

"Two?"

"Or thr—"

Jordan quickly put her hand over Maggie's mouth. "Two sounds just about right."

Maggie began singing, "Jordan and Maggie sittin' in a tree—"

"K–I–S–S–I–N–G," Jordan added.

"First comes love, second comes marriage," Maggie sang.

"Then comes Maggie pushing a baby carriage." Jordan ended the childhood limerick by kissing Maggie on the end of the nose.

"I love you, Jordan."

"I love you too, Mags."

CHAPTER 24

Two weeks later…

Jordan walked to the front of the conference room, portraying an air of confidence and poise. She had elected to wear a double-breasted, pin-striped business suit, a crisply starched white shirt and medium height heels. She stood behind the lectern and picked up the remote control to the overhead projection system.

"Good morning," she said. "My name is Dr. Jordan Lewis, Professor of Kinesiology and an expert in the field of spinal cord injury and regeneration techniques. I first want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to grant me an audience. What I will be outlining for you today, is a proposal for the development of a cure for spinal cord paralysis."

Jordan looked around the room at the stunned expressions on the faces of the scientists.

"Yes, you heard me correctly. I use the term cure in the literal sense. You see, historically, treatments for complete SCI's has involved a regimen of managed care. I will present to you today, a concept that will not manage a complete SCI, but rather, cure it. I further submit that the age of the injury, while important, is not a deciding factor relative to curing a completely severed spinal column."

Jordan watched as nearly every person in the room furiously scribbled notes on the papers in front of them, with the exception of one man who sat directly opposite her at the end of the conference table. He was a good-looking man, dressed in blue jeans, a white shirt and tie, and a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows and a shock of unruly hair. Jordan guessed him to be around her same age. He appeared to be watching her intently; an even, non-responsive expression on his face.

Who does he remind me of?
Jordan said to herself as she mentally prepared to begin her presentation.

"Without further ado, let's get started." Jordan turned on the projector and displayed her first slide. "Being in the company of such esteemed medical scientists, I don't need to go into any great detail about the function of a healthy spinal cord.

"Spinal cord injury is most often caused by trauma where vertebrae are displaced and the cord running through them is damaged. Motor and sensory control below the point of the lesion is lost or impaired.

"We all know that while spontaneous function recovery is possible with partial lesions of the spinal cord, deficits persist in a complete separation. Even if partial function is restored during the treatment of a complete SCI, there is almost always some level of permanent disability associated with the injury."

Jordan advanced the slide.

"There have been many research projects focused on repairing completely severed spinal cords. All of these projects used non-human test subjects. Nearly all of them resulted in some level of restored function, but none of them was completely successful."

Jordan continued to advance the slides as she addressed several individual research projects.

"One study, done in 2004, found that by repeated stimulation of the spinal cord, one could modify the spinal circuits and create temporarily functional synergistic movements. The net conclusion here is that it might be possible to stimulate these synergistic movements by implanting electrodes into localized and stable regions of the spinal cord. What is key here, is that as soon as that electrode is removed, the injury and subsequent paralysis persist.

"Another study in 2007 promotes the use of autologous bone marrow cell transplant and bone marrow stimulation. It was hypothesized that by grafting bone marrow cells into the SCI, it promoted the production of neuroprotective cytokines that are known to rescue neurons which typically suffer cell death after such an injury. Unfortunately, significant functional recovery after cell transplantation was rarely found to be achievable with human subjects.

"A third study, done in 2010, suggests the application of aggressive medical resuscitation and blood pressure management can lead to partially restored functions and bladder control. Very high percentages of these patients showed significant improvement in neurological functions within a year of treatment. What is important to point out here is that these trials were done specifically on cervical and thoracic injuries, but no evidence exists that this approach works on lumbar injuries. Again, testing was done on non-human subjects.

"The last treatment option I'd like to touch on is not a treatment at all. It does not address the injury, but rather restores mobility. What I am referring to here is the bionic exoskeleton, originally approved by the FDA in 2014. It is quite ingenious, as it effectively connects this bionic suit to the patient's nervous system. The suit picks up signals from the muscles on the arms and legs and assists the patient to move. The downside of this approach is that it does not treat the injury at all. In addition, the bionic suit tends to be quite cumbersome in size and requires a lengthy learning curve to become proficient with it."

Jordan paused to look around the room. "Are there any questions thus far?" she asked.

A hand raised in the corner of the room. "Yes, my name is Dr. Hollinbeck. I am familiar with several of the studies you have highlighted, but you have yet to mention anything about endogenous stem cells."

"Thank you for your question. That's a great lead-in to my next slide." Jordan advanced the slide and once again addressed her audience.

"So far, I have provided several examples of some very good work carried out by the foremost recognized scientists in our field; however, as I have pointed out, with the exception of the exoskeleton, none of the approaches has thus far been proven to work on human subjects, nor have they resulted in a complete reversal of the injury. I am here today to propose an approach that does both.

"The method I have developed employs a two-pronged treatment. First, both autologous, or transplanted stem cells, and endogenous neural stem cells, which are already resident in the spinal column, are inserted into the injury site. Second, the stem cells work in conjunction with a device that simultaneously activates millions of genes to promote cell growth, similar to cells types that repair skin wounds in humans. This device immediately restores full mobility and ultimately, over time, repairs the synapse connections over the injury site, leading to the restoration of nerve endings and sensory feeling. The device is self-taught and self powered, and the software is designed to become self-aware as the healing process progresses. In short, it develops its own order of intelligence. I will also add that this approach has already been fully tested and is currently operational in a human test subject."

Jordan paused to drink from the bottle of water on the podium as she covertly looked out over her audience. Her eyes were drawn to the man at the end of the table once more. He smiled slightly at her, his gaze never leaving her face.

Jordan advanced to her next slide. "As you know, a project of this magnitude requires significant funding. I anticipate the development cycle to be approximately one year for the prototype and several years beyond that to fully optimize and perfect an FDA-approved version.

"A list of my terms and conditions, the estimated cost of this development, and the number and types of scientists I will need on the team is outlined in the package I will leave with you at the end of this presentation. The return on investment will be substantial, but the real bonus will be to the thousands, if not millions of SCI victims that will benefit from this development. I thank you for your time. I will now take your questions pertaining to the presentation."

* * *

"Can you believe the nerve of that woman?" Dr. Hollinbeck said. "Look at this list of terms and conditions. She provided us with her name and information about her degree field, but other than that there are no details about her education or work history. That makes me suspicious."

"She seemed well informed to me," the man at the end of the table said.

"No offense, Chuck, but you're just the front man for some rich philanthropist. You have very little background in scientific research. I'm not sure you're qualified to offer your opinion here."

"I agree with Chuck," another board member said. "She definitely seemed to know what she was talking about. I am very curious about this device of hers. She says it's already been proven functional in a human test subject."

"Heaven knows we aren't making much progress on our own," said yet another board member.

"Well I, for one am not convinced she's authentic," Hollinbeck said. "We pointedly asked her how her device works, and she refuses to tell us."

"It's not unusual for an inventor to keep the details to themselves until funding is secured and intellectual property rights are established. It's a sound business decision on her part," Chuck said. "I mean, she wasn't demanding payment up front, just a commitment for funding. We reserve the right to cancel the project if she is unable to deliver."

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right about this. I mean, she leaves this list of demands with us, yet she won't share any information about who she is. Look at these terms and conditions for Christ's sake. She wants to be in charge of the team. I'll be damned if I'll let her come in and take over my lab, never mind give me direct orders. She also wants a generous salary and the IP and patent ownership for the device. What's in it for the institute if she gets all the credit and royalties from the design?"

"She might get IP rights and royalties, but the institute gets the revenue generated from the sale of the device. She was right when she said the return on investment would be substantial," Chuck argued.

Hollinbeck was not to be deterred. "I still don't feel good about this. Look at this last demand. She wants assistance establishing credentials and identity, whatever the hell that means. As far as I'm concerned, it's not my job to see that she gets all the glory for developing this device. If she really wants to sell this to someone, she needs to learn how to be a team player."

Chuck narrowed his eyes in Hollinbeck's direction. "What are you concerned about Hollinbeck, her integrity, or taking direction from a woman and giving her credit for her own innovation?"

"I resent what you are implying, Chuck. Look around this room and ask the others if I give credit where credit is due."

Chuck scanned the faces of the others in the room and was met by evasive or guarded gazes.

"Look Chuck," Hollinbeck continued, I admit I was intrigued by her ideas, but without any data to back it up — and without her willingness to share the details up front — this feels like a scam. The last thing we need is to give her a ton of money only to have her skip town on us. I vote no on this one."

"Are you sure about that?" Chuck asked. "What if she's the real deal?"

"If she's the real deal, then why all the secrecy?"

Chuck sat back in his chair. "Suit yourself."

"So, let's put this to a vote. There are thirteen of us in the room. Raise your hand if you approve her proposal." Hollinbeck looked each member of the board in the eye as one by one, they voted.

Of the thirteen scientists present, only six found the courage to raise their hands and defy their lead scientist.