I\u2019m sixty-two, four decades on a motorcycle, and I thought I\u2019d seen all the cruelty this world could throw at someone. I was wrong. Nothing could have prepared me for watching a hospital administrator tell a mother that her six-year-old, dying of cancer, had to leave because her insurance had \u201crun out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nHer name was Aina. Hairless from chemotherapy, all bones under a thin blanket, curled in her mother\u2019s arms while the hospital lobby buzzed around them as if nothing was happening. Her mother, Sarah, listened as the administrator explained why they had to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cMa\u2019am, your daughter is stable enough for home hospice. We need the bed\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStable?\u201d Sarah\u2019s voice broke. \u201cShe\u2019s dying. Maybe just days left. And you want me to take her home? We\u2019re homeless. Living in our car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something inside me snapped. I\u2019d been waiting for news on a club brother after a bike accident, but what I heard made my blood boil. I stood, stepped forward in my leather vest and patches. The administrator glanced at me and swallowed hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir, this is a private matter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot when you\u2019re throwing a dying child out,\u201d I said. \u201cThat\u2019s everyone\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nSarah looked up at me, eyes shaking. \u201cI\u2019m Sarah,\u201d she whispered. \u201cThis is Aina.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned down. Aina opened her eyes and tried to smile. \u201cYou look like a giant,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a giant,\u201d I told her softly. \u201cAnd giants protect brave little girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I faced the administrator. \u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen: you\u2019re going to find Aina a bed. If you don\u2019t, I\u2019ll sit in this hallway every night. And I\u2019ll call every biker I know to sit with me. We\u2019ll be quiet. We\u2019ll be peaceful. But we will be here. And every person who walks through these doors will know that this hospital tosses dying children onto the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nShe muttered something about calling the director and hurried off.<\/p>\n
Sarah stared at me. \u201cWhy are you doing this? You don\u2019t know us.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat beside her. \u201cI lost my daughter to leukemia twenty-six years ago. She was seven, with the same hazel eyes as Aina. When our insurance ran out, the hospital tried the same thing. I took her home, helpless, and she died three days later in pain I couldn\u2019t ease. I promised myself I\u2019d never let another parent go through that. Not as long as I live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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