A Book Chat by Katherine Powers

Anna’s sister has leukemia, a blood and bone marrow cancer. Anna was born because a scientist was able to find the right combination of DNA from her parents so that she would be a bone marrow match for Kate, her sister. Her parents need her to donate a kidney to her sister, which could be life threatening for both of them. Her parents never have given her a choice when it comes to medical procedures, so she decides to sue them for ‘the rights to her own body’. She finds a lawyer and goes to court to have the choice on whether or not she wants to donate her kidney. Her mom happens to be a lawyer, and she plans to represent herself and her husband. Since the lawsuit was filed, she has repeatedly tried to convince her daughter to drop the lawsuit. Anna often lies and tells her that she will drop it, just to make her happy. Meanwhile, Anna’s Lawyer becomes romantically involved with her guardian ad litem. This causes lots of stress for both of them.

During the case hearing, Anna’s lawyer has a seizure while she is testifying. This scares her and affects the rest of her speech. In the end, the judge rules to give Anna full medical emancipation from her parents. He also has Anna’s lawyer be the one to guide her decisions. Meanwhile, Kate is at the hospital dying from kidney failure. After the case, her parents go back to be with her when her dad gets an ambulance call (he is a career firefighter). He goes to the scene of as car crash to find out that it was Anna and her lawyer that were the ones in the crash. At the hospital, Anna is declared brain dead, and the doctors ask if they considered organ donation. Anna’s Lawyer then comes in and declared that ‘there’s a girl upstairs who needs that kidney’. After they take out Anna’s organs, they turn her off life support. In the epilogue, It is revealed that with her sister’s kidney, Kate has survived for 8 years and is now a dance teacher. She believes that someone had to die, and that Anna took her place.

 It goes deep into issues of independence  It is very well written  It has interesting point of views  It has taught me about jealousy  It has taught me a lot about medical terms, which I find very interesting.

 It is a page turner.  It is dramatic and sad.  It is interesting to read.  It teaches you and makes you think about what is right legally and what is right morally.

“Mr. Alexander, I say,my sister has leukemia.” “I’m sorry to hear that. But even if I were willing to litigate against God again, which I’m not, you can’t bring a lawsuit on someone else’s behalf.” There is way too much to explain – my own blood seeping into my sister’s veins; the nurses scolding me down to stick me for white cells Kate might borrow; the doctor saying they didn’t get enough the first time around. The bruises and the deep bone ache after I gave up my marrow; the shots that sparked more stem cells in me, so that there’d be extra for my sister. The fact that I’m not sick, but I might as well be. The fact that the only reason I was born was as a harvest crop for Kate. The fact that even now, a major decision about me is being made, and no one’s bothered to ask the one person who most deserves it to speak her opinion. There’s way too much to explain, and so I do the best I can.”It’s not God. Just my parents, "I say.”I want to sue them for the rights to my own body.”

 In the film, Kate dies before the verdict is reached. In the book, she survives with a kidney transplant and has been in remission for eight years.  Anna’s Lawyer, Campbell is a more prominent character in the book.  The book is set in the state of Rhode Island, but the movie is set in the state of California  In the book, Anna is thirteen, in the movie, she's eleven

 When I read the book, I had questions about the cancer that Kate had. So I researched it. This is what I found.  Acute promyelocytic leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Only about 1200 people a year are diagnosed with it. A person can live in remission (without cancer) for anywhere between 3 months and 9 years. It is usually treated with chemotherapy rather than radiation or surgery. It can also be treated with a combination of all three.