Kate's Disease and her Family's Disease

Having a sick family member does not only affect the dying , but the other family members as well. When one child in the family is sick, all of the attention will be shifted to the sick child. A good parent will do anything they can possibly do to save their child. On the other hand, the rest of the family will be neglected and have to commit in helping their sick member recover.  During this misery, life for the whole family will not be the same.

Cancer.org provides a a great list of how parents usually react when their child have a severe disease -specifically cancer. Based from the study, shock, disbelief, fear, and anxiety are the most common reactions that parents feel after learning that their child is going to suffer and perhaps die.

In My Sister's Keeper, the parent that most displayed the following reactions listed above is Anna. Even though I can understand that no parent is ever prepared to hear their child have a life-threatening illness like acute promyelocytic leukemia, it is still wrong for Sara to create a "designer baby" just for the purpose of saving Kate.  From the day that she decided to create and treat Anna simply as a donor bank for Kate, Sara is not being a good parent and wife to everyone. 

Sara had the entire family dedicated to watch over Kate and her needs. This led….

<--- for her and Brian to constantly fight.








---> Jesse fleeing from home because he was feeling neglected.

and….

<--- Anna deciding to see a  
lawyer to sue her parents after years of being abused.

Thus, Kate's disease is not only killing her, but her disease is killing her whole family as well!

Sara might be prolonging Kate's life, but she is hurting her more emotionally. This is because when parents focus more love and attention on one child, all the less favored children in the family feels uncertainty and resentment. The favored child begins to feel the resentment of her other siblings and makes her hate herself for being treated as the special child. Thus, playing favorites amongst your children does not make you a good parent, it only disbands the entire family. Just look at what happened to Kate and her family!!