'Chasing Life' Recap: 'Finding Chemo'

On this week’s episode of Chasing Life, April begins treatment, Dominic returns to Boston, and Brenna and Greer are forbidden from seeing each other.

The episode opens with April, Brenna, and Beth lying in the grass, discussing April’s impending treatment. From a bench nearby, April’s mother, Sara and grandmother, Emma watch. A few moments later, Sara reluctantly interrupts the girls’ conversation to let them know that they need to go inside. After they enter the hospital and get settled, Dr. Hamburg and a nurse both set up April’s chemo. Cue opening credits.

April and Brenna walk around the hospital with April’s port. A nurse named Leilani meets up with them and brings them back to April’s room for lunch. They talk about possible symptoms April might experience in the next few days.

Inside the room, April’s family plus Beth start to get her everything situated and an elderly male patient named Saul stops by to chat. Dr. Hamburg also eventually checks in. She and April’s uncle, George clash a bit when he starts to take over her role as April’s doctor. Dr. Hamburg tells George to focus solely on being April’s uncle.

At Brenna’s school, Ford is with a friend. Brenna interrupts and asks if they can talk. Ford hesitates, but soon agrees and they get into a fight about what happened at April’s “day before chemo party” with Kieran and Greer. Ford thinks Brenna is a “sell out” for dating Greer since Greer is “rich and shallow.”

At the hospital, April is a little upset about not being able to go outside, so she shuts her blinds. Later, Sara shows up to spend the night with April. April’s favorite nurse, Martine also checks in before April goes to bed. Martine informs April that her bed has an alarm that will go off every time she gets up, so she shouldn’t worry if she hears any noise during the night. Saul returns and complains that he pressed his call button, but no one showed up. Martine leaves to attend to him.

Meanwhile, April doesn’t think she’ll be able to sleep, so Sara brings her her favorite childhood book and reads to her.

While sleeping, April’s father, Tom appears to her in a dream. When she wakes up a few minutes later, Sara is asleep.

April falls asleep a second time and when she wakes up, Dominic is in her hospital room. Dominic says he knew he “shouldn’t have left.”

At first April thinks she’s hallucinating, but when she realizes she isn’t, she’s happy to see him. Dominic apologizes for not being in touch sooner. He remembers April being sick before he left and gives her a “chemo playlist” he made her. She admits she’s known about her leukemia since the night of her first date, which makes Dominic upset. April apologizes because she knows she’s “handled everything wrong.” Dominic responds by telling her he’s going home to drop off his stuff, since he came to the hospital straight from the airport. He says he doesn’t know how long he’ll be staying.

At Brenna’s school, she and Greer are in trouble for skipping the Eco club conference while in Florida. Greer told the principal they both had “food poisoning,” and Brenna goes along with her lie. The principal doesn’t believe them and wants to call their parents to discuss things further, so Brenna mentions April’s cancer. Brenna pleads with the principal not to tell her mother because of what’s happened with April, though she has difficulty bargaining with her. In the end, the principal caves and gives Brenna until the next day to tell her mom what really happened in Miami.

Back at the hospital, the nurses work on April. Saul stops by and asks to play cards, but April politely declines, saying that maybe they can play later. Soon enough, April’s co-worker, Danny visits. April worries that Danny is upset with her because she didn’t tell him about her leukemia personally. Danny isn’t mad, he’s just had some trouble responding to the news and figuring out the right things to say to her. April tells him it’s okay.

April and Beth listen to Dominic’s playlist. April feels guilty about not telling him about her cancer and then cheating on him with Leo. Beth says that if April wants to tell Dominic about Leo, she probably won’t be able to get back together with him, because he’ll be hurt. April wants to get back together with Dominic, but confesses she didn’t tell him about her condition, because she didn’t want him to feel “obligated to help.” By Dominic flying back so quickly from the Daft Punk tour, April realizes he isn’t going to be so easily scared off. Beth tells April to stop worrying and avoid doing anything that will “rock the boat;” Leo was only a “one-night stand.” Their conversation is halted, however when April gets sick and starts to vomit, so Beth helps her to the bathroom.

Brenna finds her mom in the cafeteria, since it’s her turn to sleepover at the hospital. George is also there. They tell Brenna her bone marrow isn’t a match and that they’re going to try the anonymous donor registry. Afterwards, Sara and George talk outside. George apologizes for kissing Sara. Sara reassures him everything is okay and they were both just responding to “trauma.”

April feels better, but notices Brenna is stressed. Initially she thinks Brenna is having second thoughts about staying over at the hospital, but Brenna tells April about getting in trouble at school and meeting Natalie in Florida. Brenna also mentions that Natalie’s met their mom. Brenna suspects Ford is responsible for her sudden plight. April offers to talk to their mom, but Brenna won’t let April bail her out. Moments later, they go to sleep.

A little while later, April gets her blood drawn and Brenna tosses and turns. When the clock reads 4:13, April’s bed starts beeping, causing both her and Brenna to wake up. April falls asleep and when she wakes up again later, Brenna is gone, but has left a note. She went home to tell Sara about her school problem. Suddenly, April gets sick and presses the nurses’ call button.

At home, Sara freaks out when Brenna tells her what really happened in Miami. Things only get worse when Brenna confesses about meeting Natalie and asking her to be a bone marrow donor. Brenna says April knows about Natalie, too. Sara says she wishes Brenna wouldn’t “have taken matters into her own hands.”

April’s nurse, Leilani notices she hasn’t had anything to eat. April tells her she is sick and can’t keep anything down. Leilani tells April she’s going to page Dr. Hamburg to come up.

April has another dream about her dad. He tells her he doesn’t want her to die in the hospital like he did. When April wakes up, she starts to panic. After April’s favorite nurse, Martine checks in, April says she’s taking a walk and makes a phone call. She says she’s getting out of the hospital and needs help. When April hangs up the phone, she detaches her port and leaves it in the hallway.

When Sara realizes April is missing, she frantically calls George. Sara also freaks out at the hospital staff, because she claims they’re not doing enough to help her find April. Nurse Martine tells Sara that the entire hospital is aware of April’s disappearance and everyone is looking for her, but Sara can’t be consoled and insists on looking for April herself.

April hides in the hospital’s chapel. Leo shows up and they talk. April confesses she can’t handle the treatment and feels suffocated. She tells Leo she reached out to him because he’s the only one who would understand. April asks if Leo will help her check out of the hospital or not. Leo says he won’t. Leo believes in April and knows she’ll beat her leukemia. After they talk for a little while longer, Leo and April exit the chapel and walk around the hospital’s corridors. April is scared that Leo will be dead when her treatment’s over. Leo agrees, telling her that her fears are valid. Leo also tells April to go after Dominic, because Leo is the “wrong horse for her to bet on.” Leo thinks Dominic will be able to help her through her chemo. Soon enough, Dominic returns to the hospital and sees April and Leo together. When Leo leaves, Sara and George catch Dominic staring at April from afar and rush over to her, relieved. Dominic keeps his distance, stunned by April and Leo’s encounter.

April and her family talk briefly until Dominic appears. April mentions her panic attack and Dominic says he considered staying in Boston to support her until he saw her with Leo. April explains how she befriended Leo at her cancer support group and sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone who also has cancer, because they understand things better. Dominic is hurt that April can’t talk to him. In addition, he begins to suspect that April’s relationship with Leo involved more than just “talking.”

Sara is at Brenna’s school when she spots Greer and her parents. Brenna thought they were all having a meeting with the principal, but Greer’s parents say they handled everything and the Eco club incident has been removed from both girls’ records. They made a deal with Charton Academy, because the school needed a new field house. Greer’s parents are still upset about the incident, though and forbid Brenna from seeing their daughter. They want Greer to be with someone who has “similar ambitions.” Sara defends Brenna, saying she’s a good kid, despite some of the mistakes she’s made. When Greer and her parents leave, Brenna apologizes to her mom for not being as perfect as April. Sara brushes off Brenna’s apology, saying both of her daughters are perfect and she wants to move past Brenna’s mistakes.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, April and Dominic continue to talk. Dominic says he thought April wanted to get back together with him since they only broke up because he was leaving to tour with Daft Punk. April says she still wants to get back together with him. Dominic has a hard time believing her because of her admission about Leo and says he feels “stupid” and claims that he was “always more invested” in their relationship. He says he wanted to be there for April, but she never gave him the chance. He leaves shortly after breaking up with her.

April has a dream where she sees her friend, Jackson from cancer support group and he tells her he’s recently died. Additionally, April also sees Gerald (the man who once sold her carrot juice), and her dad, Tom. They are all confident that April is a survivor and she’ll beat her leukemia.

When April wakes up, she catches a glimpse of her white board, which reads, “2 more days ‘til chemo break!!!” and then goes to open the blinds. When Beth wakes up a few seconds later, she notices that April seems to have a different attitude. April is glad that a new day is beginning and asks Beth to take a walk with her around the cancer ward. Beth agrees.

At school, Brenna passes Ford and things are still tense between the two of them.

George shows up at Sara’s office to check in on her now that she’s back to work. Sara wonders if she’s a “bad therapist” for shaking her head at some of her patients’ so-called “tragedies” when George decides to bring up their kiss again. George says he was wrong to just brush off the kiss as a response to “trauma,” because a lot of old feelings are coming back. He asks Sara if she feels the same.

April & Beth are taking their walk around the cancer ward when they pass Saul’s room and notice he’s not there. April asks Nurse Martine where he is and Martine says Saul checked out of the hospital. April fears that Saul is dead, but Martine tells April that Saul’s in remission.

All of a sudden, April spots Leo’s parents and begins to suspect that something is wrong. Beth notices a voicemail on April’s phone from Leo. April listens to the message and Leo says he has to tell her something “important.” End episode.

This episode marks the summer finale of Chasing Life. A Christmas special is set to air in December.