During todays discussion all I could think about was the movie My Sisters Keeper, if you haven't seen it, it is a very moving film that makes you realize the conflicts that go on between parents and children battling cancer, or any life-threatening illness I suppose. In the film, Kate is now 15 years old and has acute promyelocytic leukemia (cancer of the blood and bone marrow). When diagnosed at age 4, her parents decided the only way to save her was to have a 100% genetic match, so here came Anna, conceived by means of in vitro in fertilization. The main gist of the story is that Anna is trying to sue her parents for medical emancipation, after enduring countless procedures to donate umbilical cord blood, bone marrow etc. Now she was being asked to donate a kidney as Kate was going into renal failure and without one, would ultimately die. Her mother, who had become obsessed with trying to save Kate, tries numerous times to talk her out of it. Even telling her that she is going to kill her sister if she doesn't go through with the procedure. It isn't until the end of the film, and after Anna moved in to the fire station her father worked at because things were too heated at home, that we find out it was Kate's idea all along. That she was tired of fighting, and knew that the procedure wasn't even guaranteed, that she could die anyways and her sister would've given up her kidney for no reason. Stripping away her chances of playing soccer, cheer leading, or having children of her own one day. Even then it was impossible for her mother to understand, she kept telling Kate she wasn't going to die, although throughout the movie you watch Kate's condition drastically worsen. There is a scene towards the end when Kate asks her doctor how much time he has left and he says, not long, her mother interjects and changes the subject saying that Kate needs to get rest to be ready for the surgery. At the end of the film, Kate shows her mother a scrapbook she had made for her, and basically apologizes for stripping the family of a normal life. Kate and her mother fall asleep in the hospital bed and Kate dies. It was mentioned in class how children know more about their own bodies. And I'm a strong believer that children are much stronger, and more acceptive of their fates than the parents. To force your child to go against their will for treatment is selfish. I do agree at certain ages it is appropriate but when you've exhausted yourself and you no longer have hope, I honestly don't think that the treatment would be successful. If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend watching it, it may change your opinion by giving you an insight to the daily life of a child battling such an overbearing illness.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
My Sisters Keeper
During todays discussion all I could think about was the movie My Sisters Keeper, if you haven't seen it, it is a very moving film that makes you realize the conflicts that go on between parents and children battling cancer, or any life-threatening illness I suppose. In the film, Kate is now 15 years old and has acute promyelocytic leukemia (cancer of the blood and bone marrow). When diagnosed at age 4, her parents decided the only way to save her was to have a 100% genetic match, so here came Anna, conceived by means of in vitro in fertilization. The main gist of the story is that Anna is trying to sue her parents for medical emancipation, after enduring countless procedures to donate umbilical cord blood, bone marrow etc. Now she was being asked to donate a kidney as Kate was going into renal failure and without one, would ultimately die. Her mother, who had become obsessed with trying to save Kate, tries numerous times to talk her out of it. Even telling her that she is going to kill her sister if she doesn't go through with the procedure. It isn't until the end of the film, and after Anna moved in to the fire station her father worked at because things were too heated at home, that we find out it was Kate's idea all along. That she was tired of fighting, and knew that the procedure wasn't even guaranteed, that she could die anyways and her sister would've given up her kidney for no reason. Stripping away her chances of playing soccer, cheer leading, or having children of her own one day. Even then it was impossible for her mother to understand, she kept telling Kate she wasn't going to die, although throughout the movie you watch Kate's condition drastically worsen. There is a scene towards the end when Kate asks her doctor how much time he has left and he says, not long, her mother interjects and changes the subject saying that Kate needs to get rest to be ready for the surgery. At the end of the film, Kate shows her mother a scrapbook she had made for her, and basically apologizes for stripping the family of a normal life. Kate and her mother fall asleep in the hospital bed and Kate dies. It was mentioned in class how children know more about their own bodies. And I'm a strong believer that children are much stronger, and more acceptive of their fates than the parents. To force your child to go against their will for treatment is selfish. I do agree at certain ages it is appropriate but when you've exhausted yourself and you no longer have hope, I honestly don't think that the treatment would be successful. If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend watching it, it may change your opinion by giving you an insight to the daily life of a child battling such an overbearing illness.
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I read the book a few years ago and LOVED it. I cried through probably half the book but it was completely worth it. All of Jodi Picoult's books are excellent reads. I also thought about this story during the last class when we were discussing children's rights in the hospital, and when we talked about the story with the 16 year old girl not wanting treatments anymore. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about this movie too! I bawled my eyes out during it. It really fit the topic we were talking about though. It's crazy to think that things like this happen in real life. That mother was so obsessed with trying to save her daughter! It was almost like she was ignoring the needs of the healthy one! So sad. I believe children should get a say in it too! They are much more open to death than we are. It's like society conditions us to hate death and ignore talking about it.
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ReplyDeleteI have seen this movie and thank God I did not read the book. I probably would not have made it through the book. The movie in my opinion shows the lengths that parents are willing to go through to save the life a child. However, I do not believe it was right of the parents to just create this child for the sole purpose of saving the life of another. I believe it was wrong of them because the other child is a human being as well. The parents made it seem like the other children did not have as much importance as the ill child. Although, I assume it would be very difficult to deal with an ill child. Unfortunately, losing one child is not the same as dealing with other children who are well because the ill child would take up most or all of the parents’ time. I believe that the family would have been more functioning as a family if they had received counseling for having an ill child and well children as well. Also, it did not appear or from what I remember that in the movie the family did not receive help from a Hospice Facility. The family would have definitely benefited from services from this type of facility.
Supriya Konkol – Blog Entry # 3
AMAZING movie! It really emphasizes the darkness or death and how far some people will go to prevent it.I was surprised in the end that the sister with cancer put the other one up to stop giving treatments. She was ready to die and did not want to see her little sister and family in pain any longer. The mom didn't realize that what her dying daughter truly wanted, like most dying people, was to die and stop the suffering of themselves and their loved ones.
ReplyDeleteGood book. i read it a little while back and it was very deep. After having taken this class i feel like i could have a better understanding of what the characters in the story are going through. It gives different outlooks on how people approach death and it deals heavily with the child aspect which we talked a lot about in class.
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