My 17-year-old son shaved his head for his sick girlfriend – The next day, his mother told me, "You have to come to the hospital to see what your son has done."

I walked in and froze in place.

***

In the video, they appeared in the room one after the other.

Coach Daniels bent down and made a theatrical bow. Lily clapped, her thin hands trembling, her eyes shining like I hadn't seen them in months.

"Are you the one who organized all this?" I asked Aaron in a low voice.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I've been asking around for a few weeks. Everyone said yes. They just wanted me to start. »

I turned to Diane. His arms had fallen to his side, and tears were streaming down his face.

"I couldn't say it on the phone," she whispered. "I tried. I kept thinking, "Look what your son did," and I couldn't finish my sentence. »

Coach Daniels leaned towards us.

"Diane," I said as I approached my friend.

"I was so jealous of him, Rachel. I sit there, unable to do anything, and he arrives, and she immediately regains her joy of life. »

I hugged her there in the doorway. She was sobbing against my shoulder, and I was holding her even tighter.

"We are not rivals," I said. "We're in the same boat."

***

Six weeks later, we received the results of Lily's tests, and a miracle had happened: the treatment worked!

"We are not rivals"

***

Diane and I sat on my porch that night, drinking tea and watching the sun go down.

Aaron's hair was slowly growing back. Lily's too.

I used to think I was raising a good boy. That day, in the hospital, I understood that my son had quietly become a good young man, and that he had pulled us all up with him.