Right to be Free

Do you ever feel like your parents don’t trust you to make your own decisions? Sometimes they forget that you really are mature and you can make your own decisions. But what would you do if they started taking control over your body? Is that taking it too far? Anna Fitzgerald from My Sisters Keeper is sick of her parents having control over her, and her resolution is…Suing them. Not something the average person would think of doing.

Anna Fitzgerald was born with a purpose; to save her sister, Kate. She has leukemia and needs bone marrow transplants and she needs an organ donor. Leukemia is a cancer that affects the blood and the bone marrow. That’s why people with this type of cancer typically need bone marrow transplants and blood transfusions. The long term prognosis for Kate probably isn’t very good because with leukemia it’s a very hard cancer to get rid of and then to keep clear of it, so for the time being everybody is doing as much as they can to save Kate, and hopefully increase the chance of her living longer. 

Imagine not feeling loved by your parents. Imagine not getting any attention. Imagine your parents making you give blood all the time and bone marrow, and think about what that would be like. Probably very different from how your life is now. Anna has to go through this almost every day. Recently she has gotten to the point where she doesn’t want to deal with it anymore. Her solution was suing her parents for rights to her own body. In her house all the attention goes to Kate because she’s in the hospital and always sick. Now it’s switching because everybody is trying to stop Anna from suing them. Her parents had her, “The perfect baby” so she could save Kate. 

The parents aren’t supportive of anything. They never understand the way Anna is feeling. Sara Fitzgerald, the mom, wants Anna to cancel the lawsuit and just try and work it out between them. Brian Fitzgerald, the dad, actually is starting to understand how Anna is feeling and he is starting to support her with her decision. With all the struggles Kate’s had in her life, she’s supported Anna with whatever she wanted to do. There’s no better support than having a sister that will always take your side and give you advice when you need it. 

When you get overwhelmed with what’s going on in your life, you are quick to make a decision like Anna chose to sue her parents. Maybe it wasn’t the best choice, but she went with what she felt was right. 

 Everyone deserves to be able to make their own decisions and do what they want in life, and if Anna felt like her parents weren’t doing what she wanted then I believe she had every right to take them to court.