I heard this author being interviewed on CBC and was intrigued by the story of these two sisters, so I found it on line and ordered it. By some strange reason, it was waiting for me here in Florida when I arrived this winter - I began to think I hadn't ordered it and it didn't appear on my Kindle. Anyway...
Pam, Heather's younger sister, is born with Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic illness hardly even known about back in the 70s, and it was actually Pam's mom and dad who founded the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The reason for the title of the book is that Pam was too young to say the name of her illness, so she called it "sixty-five roses",
This was an amazing read - Heather lays it all out - how the family functions through all of this constant pounding of Pam's chest, going to the hospital, vomiting, masks, lungs bursting, plus how the rest of the family deals with her illness. Heather feels tremendous guilt because she didn't get the disease, Pam feels guilt that all of the rest of them give up their lives for her, and actually they do - but out of love and desperation. Another child - the youngest in the family of four siblings - is also born with CF although not as serious as the sister.
Pam lived till just after her 26th birthday, but what a journey - what a family - what a story! You couldn't get a novel as insightful and real as this one.
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