Transcript for the Piece Audio version of StoryCorps: Andrea St. John and Thomas Broderick

AS: I think it took a little while for him to build up the courage to ask me to do something alone. We had a lot of, um, seventh-grade style dates, you know, where a lot of our mutual friends kind of met in one place.
KB: Chaperones
AS: Chaperones, yeah.
KB: So, you knew he had Ewing's.
AS: Yeah.
KB: Was that scary?

AS: No. And not until, when he went back for the check-up scans did I really think about cancer in his life or our lives. We were back at school when he got the call from his doctors and, being new to this, I walked into the faculty room and his eyes were red. And, uh, you know, I hit "go" on the copier and I'm not paying attention. And then I turned around and said, 'Are your eyes ok?' And then as soon as I got the words out of my mouth, I realized: oh no. Then he said, 'Yeah, I think you should get your jacket. Maybe we'll go for a walk.' And he told me what his doctors had told him: that the cancer was back. 'There's a spot in my thigh, in my ribs, and in my pelvis.' And he paused, and he said: 'The scans lit up like a Christmas tree.'

One morning I woke up and got his tea ready and his breakfast ready and stuff. And said, 'Hey, I need your opinion on something. I want to wear this dress to your wake.' And, uh, so I, I put it on, and I stood up on the bed. And I said, 'How do I look?' And he started to cry. And I said, 'Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I'll take it off. I didn't mean to upset you at all.' And he said, 'No, it's just that you look so beautiful. I'm so glad I got to see you in that dress.' And he kept crying. And I held his hand and sat down on the bed next to him, and said, 'Well, what's goin' on?' He said, 'It's just that I woke up this morning more ready.' And I asked him what that felt like. And he paused and looked at me and he said, 'Well, I guess it's the same thing you felt when you put the dress on this morning.'