Five Feet Apart

Stella wakes up in the hospital, surrounded by her parents, Barb, and Dr. Hamid. Panicked, she searches for Will and rejects Dr. Hamid’s assertion to proceed with her lung transplant. Exhausted, Will weakly calls out to Stella and urges her to take the new lungs. Contemplating the even more restrictive isolation from Will that new lungs would require, Stella cannot bring herself to agree to the lung transplant. She professes her love for Will to her parents and confesses to herself, “I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting myself” (248). Will begs Stella to agree to the lung transplant, saying, “Don’t think about what you’ve lost. Think of how much you have to gain” (248). Stella imagines Abby’s parting command to her: “Live, Stella” (248). She finally agrees to the transplant. As Stella is rolled away for the operation, she looks back at Will one more time, and he smiles at her.

Relieved, Will relaxes on his gurney until, suddenly, he remembers that he gave Stella mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He calls out to Dr. Hamid and informs her that, in his quest to save Stella’s life, he gave her CPR and most likely infected her with B. cepacia.