Northern Rescue

If you search online "what is family?"

you get the following...

"A group consisting of parents and children

living together in a household."

Sounds super simple, right?

I'm the oldest...

which comes with all the responsibility and...

none of the glory.

Gonna be cold out there, John.

Want us to wait while you grab your blankie?

Dad's kind of like a real-life action hero.

Let's roll!

The guy literally saves lives for a living.

My brother Scout is the classic middle child.

Flies under the radar trying to find his place,

but it's kind of hard when he's totally forced

to live under my dad's shadow.

My baby sister, Taylor.

Total genius, which is super annoying,

even though I try not to let her know I think any of that.

And then there's Mom.

Our rock.

But right now, it's super complicated.

I guess that was us...

Get him out.

...the Wests.

A family.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!

Or at least a version of.

Simple, right?

Wests are the best.

Well, not so much.

Taylor, enough with the tinkering. Finish your homework.

I suck at Singapore math.

Oh, honey, in my day, math was math. You're gonna have to ask your dad.

He's on night shift, so I'm stuck with you till the morning.

So you can code, and you can build those little things,

but you can't do Singapore math?

Coding is a different language.

It's not the same thing.

Honey, I am terrible at math.

It is literally the reason why you were born.

Besides, we both know I'm just gonna search for it anyway.

Maddie, out of the fridge. Dinner is almost ready.

Come on.

Hey!

- Hey. - Hi.

Hey. There she is.

You're gonna love this weed.

- Yeah? - This is from the same stuff

that got Chris Bosh's mom arrested.

Prove it.

Okay.

- You all right? - Yeah.

Cool.

Yup, just inside.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, where's your sisters?

What happened?

Goodness, what happened?

Guys, what happened?

She was making dinner. She just...

- What's going on? - She collapsed.

They rushed her away as soon as we got here.

I don't know what's going on.

All right, listen, listen. Everybody just relax, okay? Breathe.

Everything's gonna be fine. You hear me?

Fine.

I'm gonna figure this out right now. Come.

Hey, you just admitted my wife, Sarah West.

I'll have a doctor come talk to you.

Right, but is... She's okay?

You're gonna have to wait for a doctor.

Charlie, it's fine.

We don't even know what's wrong yet.

There's nothing you could do even if you did come tonight.

Look, your sister's tough. You know that, right? I mean...

She's gonna be fine.

I got to go. The doctor's here.

- Mr. West? - Yes.

- How's my wife? - She's... stable.

Great. Okay to see her?

We should talk first.

Your wife came in tonight because her vital organs are shutting down.

She has the flu.

Flu-like symptoms.

Once we stabilized her, we did some imaging,

and noticed a thickening of the omenta.

We've scheduled a biopsy.

We need to wait until the results come in definitively.

The imaging looks malignant.

Cancer.

Love you.

Hey, West.

- You okay? - Yup.

Do they know what's wrong with me?

They're still trying to figure it out.

They have no idea.

But you're gonna be just fine.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, apparently, I'd make a terrible sniper,

- according to Mercenaries in Motion mag... - Shh.

Sorry.

When did you get here?

Thirty minutes ago. They said I could come in.

I couldn't just stand around and wait. You know me.

So, what have they told you?

Still waiting on the biopsy results.

- Something about sending it off to Ohio. - How is she?

Like a rock star.

Well, if you mean laying in bed all day,

hooked up to an IV full of awesome drugs,

then, yeah, you're a total rock star.

Must be serious if my baby sister drove all the way from Turtle Island Bay.

Well, you know I have an obsession with hospital vending machines.

Come here.

It's okay.

Ohio.

Yeah, that's where they send the lab work, remember?

I...

Hey...

you're gonna be fine.

What if I'm not?

Well, then we'll fix it.

With magic.

I learned a new one for you.

Wow. Tough crowd.

It's the morphine talking.

She's been drifting in and out.

Thank you.

So, did you tell the kids yet?

I don't see any point until we're certain there's, you know, something wrong.

Well, I'm here, okay?

I appreciate that, Charlie, but you have your own life, right?

I mean, what about that guy you're seeing?

What's his name? The one...

He was a sailor, I think. After Alex.

Ah! Don't say the "A" word. Burns my ears.

Oh, yeah.

He turned out not to be a sailor, he just happened to live on a boat...

with his ex-wife. It was great.

Ouch.

Honestly, being here right now is pretty much the only thing in my life

that's keeping me from adopting a therapy pig.

Super long story, don't ask.

Let me help you, okay?

Doctor. I gotta go.

All right. I'll grab the kids.

Take them out for beers.

Thank you.

There's no easy way to say this.

The biopsy results came back positive for cancer.

That's why we sent your lab work to Ohio.

We can't determine where it started.

What we do know is that it's metastatic.

What does that mean?

Stage 4.

It's spread everywhere.

In situations like this...

we want to make sure patients and their families...

have a chance to know their options.

So what you're saying is that she's gonna die, right?

That's what you're saying?

So, there's nothing we can do? There's no other options?

We're just supposed to stand around and just do nothing?

- If you want a second opinion... - Yes, of course, we want a second opinion!

- That's exactly what we would like! - John, please! John!

How long do I have?

How long do I have?

Less than you'd like.

You doing okay?

When someone keeps asking if you're doing okay,

it makes you feel not okay.

Look...

don't tell anybody that I said this,

but I cried last night thinking about what you're going through.

And for the record, I mean, I've only cried like...

like three times in my life where I didn't get hurt.

Did they, um...

they say how long your mom has...

before, you know...

She's a walking time-bomb.

Yeah.

Could be three days, could be three months.

Did you talk to your old man yet?

No.

I'm not gonna say anything.

Maddie, you got to tell him.

What? He needs to know.

It'll kill him.

It's not gonna change the fact that she's still gonna die.

Well, if you don't get this off your chest, it'll kill you.

I can handle it.

I can see that.

What? Hey, Maddie.

Maddie, come on.

Hey, Maddie!

Maddie, sweetheart...