Will Swanson

Will Swanson is a patient at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Symptoms and Diagnosis
Will ignored his early symptoms, not wanting to ask for help. when he was finally diagnosed, he was stage four and he had an abdomen full of tumors.

Hospitalization
Will was uncomfortable being in the pediatric ward due to all the childish decorations. He also couldn’t sleep at night because there was a crying baby next door. He stayed up all night playing video games, sometimes joined by Alex Karev, who insisted that video games are good for surgical practice.

Since he was up all night, he slept in and had to be woken up by the doctors. He said that a clown came in at dawn and asked him if he wanted a balloon animal.

Tumor Resection
Meredith and Alex explained to Will and his mother how they would be removing the tumors. They had a particular order they planned to remove them in. While in surgery, Meredith decided to go against the surgical plan and skip one of the tumors to do that one last. When it came down to that last tumor, Alex decided that it looked too risky. However, Meredith was confident that she could remove it without removing too much of his liver. Alex still wasn’t sure. Stephanie brought up the two-challenge rule, which Richard had told the residents about, and she and Alex both challenged Meredith, forcing her to step back and allow Alex to close.

After surgery, Alex explained that since they hadn’t removed the final tumor, Will would have to stay in the peds ward longer. But Alex removed the peds decorations and said Will could bring in things from home to make it less childish.

Courtney Swanson
Will was accompanied to the hospital by his mother, Courtney.

Notes and Trivia

 * Will was fifteen years old at the time of his tumor resection.