3.2 Sara Fitzgerald’s
Sara Fitzgerald is Anna’s mother. Actually, she is a beautiful women; she has a long dark hair and the fine collarbones of a princes. But she has a difficult problem in
her life since her eldest daughter had been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia APL, she does not have much free time and it is difficult for her to smile.
As quoted:
“My mother could be beautiful, if she were parachuted into someone else’s life. She has long dark hair and the fine
collarbones of a princes, but the corner of her mouth turn down, like she’s swallowed bitter news.”
Picoult, Jodi, 2009:11
Sara is distraught to learn her daughter has a potentially fatal illness, and know the only way to save her life is to have another child who matches Kate’s DNA; this
makes her decide to have another child in the hope that it will do just that. She goes through IVF to ensure that the child is donor material, this is where the ethics of the
situation are put in to question. As quoted:
“We sit down on the set at the TV studio. We’ve been invited here because of our baby’s unorthodox conception. Somehow, in
an effort to keep Kate healthy, we’ve unwittingly become the poster children for scientific debate.”
Picoult, Jodi, 2009:121
She has had a very tough life she has gone through so much storing with the diagnosis of her daughter Kate to the lawsuit filed against her by Anna. She is to be a
very strong woman considering all she has been though. She tries to love all her
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children; but she loves Anna in a different way than Kate. Sara loves Kate as she would any child but she loves Anna because she is helping save Kate’s life. She is
more grateful to have Anna instead of actually loving her. When Anna was born she does not care about Anna how she is look like, the way
she is crying, Sara just care about Kate’s life. When Anna comes out Sara remains the doctor to take care the umbilical cord and tell him to hurries it out of the room to a
place where it will be cryogenically preserves until Kate is ready for it. Sara never thinks about Anna’s feelings she just care about Kate’s health. When
the doctor suggest to donor a bone marrow for Kate, without asking permission from Anna she just have explains to Anna that Kate is not feeling good, and the doctor
need to take something from Anna and give it to Kate to make Kate feel better, Sara figured that was more than enough information.
As quoted:
“When we have Anna,” I remind Brian, “we know that she was going to be donor for Kate.”
Picoult, Jodi, 2009:204
Sara is too busy being Kate’s mother; and sometimes she is forgetting being Jesse and Anna’s mother too. All she does is just pay attention to Kate’s health. Kate is her
priority; she has no time for her other child Jesse. Jesse asks her to buy new cleats after they go to orthodontist. That she has promises before; but Sara tows her promise
because she does not want to leave Kate; because Kate is just return from the
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hospital. Jesse feels disappointed with his mother; he runs up stairs to slam the door to his bedroom. And when Sara comes to Jesse’s room to do apologize with her son,
she show the blood covers Jesse’s mouth like a vampire. As quoted:
“I’d like to talk to you. I’d like to apologize.” “There is a scuffle on the other side of the door, and then it
swings open. Blood covers Jesse’s mouth, a vampire’s lipstick bits of wire stick out like a seamstress’s pins. I notice the fork he
is holding, and realize this is what he has used to pull of his braces. “Now you never have to take me anywhere.” He says.”
Picoult, Jodi, 2009:202
Actually, Sara is not wrong, as a mother she wants to do the best thing to save her child. All parents might be doing the same thing as she does. She is realizing that she
is doing a wrong thing but there is no choice for her. She is a parent; she wonder every single day if she doing the right thing. She wonders if she knows her children
the way she think she does. She wonders she is lose her preventative in being Anna’s
mother, because she is so busy being Kate’s.
Sara realizes this problem is all about fairness; she has a sister too; and she is often feeling the same; she wants her sibling to have exactly what she has. The same
amount of toys, the same number of meatballs in her spaghetti, the same share of love. But being a mother is completely different. All parents want their child to have
more than they ever had.
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At the end of the court session Sara being a lawsuit for herself as a Anna’s mother. She is conscious that the lawsuit is not about Anna, not about Kate or about
donating a kidney. This lawsuit is about having choices. A long time ago, she used to be a lawyer, but she is not one any more. She is a mother, and what she have done for
the past eighteen years in that capacity is harder than anything she ever had to do in a courtroom.
As quoted:
“I take a deep breath,” “in my life, though, that building was on fire, one of my children was in it. And the only opportunity to
save her was to send in my other child, because she was the only one who knew the way. Did I know I was taking a risk? Of
course. Did I realize it meant may be losing both of them? Yes. Did I under stand that may be it wasn’t fair to ask her to do it?
Absolutely. But I also knew that it was the only chance I had to keep both of them. Was it illegal? Was it immoral? Was it crazy
or foolish or cruel? I don’t know. But I do know it was right.
Picoult, Jodi, 2009:479
Sara makes a good decision by let Anna doing what she wants; to get her medical emancipation from her own body. And Anna dies after it. Sara feel regret and
disappointed with her self. She realizes sooner or letters she would be lose one of her daughter or even both of them.
In solving this problem, Sara’s morality is very needed. The way she faces the bad reality in her life by making a decisions to accept the death of her daughter need
courage. Trough this, we can learn how to make the best for someone we loved with our
decision even it is too hard.
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3.3 Brian Fitzgerald’s
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