My Sister's Keeper

ANNA:
When I was a kid, my mother told me

that I was a little piece of blue sky...

...that came into this world

because she and Dad loved me so much.

It was only later that I realized

that it wasn't exactly true.

Most babies are coincidences.

I mean, up in space

you got all these souls flying around...

...looking for bodies to live in.

Then, down here on Earth,

two people have sex or whatever...

...and bam, coincidence.

Sure, you hear all these stories about

how everyone plans these perfect families...

...but the truth is that most babies...

...are products of drunken evenings

and lack of birth control.

They're accidents.

Only people who have trouble

making babies actually plan for them.

I, on the other hand,

am not a coincidence.

I was engineered.

Born for a particular reason.

A scientist hooked up my mother's eggs

and my father's sperm...

...to make a specific

combination of genes.

He did it to save my sister's life.

Sometimes I wonder what would have

happened if Kate had been healthy.

I'd probably still be up in heaven

or wherever...

...waiting to be attached to a body

down here on Earth.

But coincidence or not...

...I'm here.

What can I do for you?

Fourteen karat gold, hardly ever worn.

That's my sister, Kate.

She's dying.

ANNA:

Montana? I don't get it.

- It looks like a whole bunch of nothing.

KATE:
It is a whole bunch of nothing.

- Just you and the big old sky.

- Why do you like it?

I don't know. I like big things.

I like wide-open spaces.

Besides,

it's the only place I've ever been.

That's Mom and Aunt Kelly

making dinner.

Since my sister got sick,

things have changed.

Aunt Kelly only works part-time

and Mom quit her job as a lawyer.

Her life now revolves around

keeping Kate alive.

Cooking and cleaning.

Everything steamed,

organic and germ-free.

- Have a good night.

- Bye.

I guess you could say

that we're a little dysfunctional.

But everybody loves each other,

and we do the best we can.

- That's not a word.

BRIAN:
What about that language?

- Nice shirt, sissy.

- Good, right?

- Hey, Mom, you wanna see our routine?

- What routine?

- Come on, Anna, let's do it.

- Hey, baby, what's your sign?

- Cancer.

- You're a Cancer?

- No, I'm a Leo...

KATE & BRIAN:
But I have cancer.

- It's not even funny.

- Yes, it is.

JESSE:
I agree with Dad.

- It was pretty clever.

- Boo.

GIRLS:
Boo.

JESSE:

It's not funny. It's not.

Nice. Nice. These your kids?

Yes, they are.

Question is, are they yours?

You believe that?

Hey, sweetie, where's your locket?

Oh, I didn't feel like wearing it today.

- Eat, Kate.

- I'm eating.

SARA:
Is it not good?

- It's really good, Mom.

BRIAN:

It's good to me.

I have lentils in the fridge

if you want some.

I'm fine, Mom.

- You're not hungry?

- I bet she needs to breathe a little bit.

- Maybe you should try to breathe a bit.

- Maybe I will a bit later.

Gross.

- Where are you going?

KATE:
Bathroom, wanna come?

SARA:

Will you breathe on me later?

BRIAN:
Having a child who is sick

is a full-time occupation.

Sure, we still enjoy the usual

day-to-day happinesses of family life.

Big house, great kids, beautiful wife.

But beneath the exterior,

there are cracks...

...resentments...

...alliances that threaten

the very foundation of our lives...

...as at any moment our whole world

could come tumbling down.

BRIAN:
I don't know when it started,

but probably around 11 it was 103.

ANNA:
Hey, what's going on?

SARA:
Your sister's sick.

She's been up all night with a fever.

ANNA:

Kate?

Kate?

[COUGHING]

ANNA:

Hey.

JESSE:

You ready? Come on, let's go.

Are you sure you want to do this?

You know you're nuts, right?

- I'll be right back.

- All right, I'll be waiting.

CAMPBELL:
When Anna Fitzgerald

first stepped into my office...

...I thought she was selling

Girl Scout cookies.

Thank you.

- Oh, my gosh, it's really you.

- It really is.

"I'm Campbell Alexander.

- I have a 90 percent success rate.

- Ninety-one.

What can I do for you?"

You've seen my commercials.

All of them. I mean, that's why I'm here.

- Hi. - Please don't touch.

Judge is a service dog.

- What service?

- I have an iron lung...

...and Judge helps me steer clear

of magnets.

Please, sit down.

- What is your name?

- Anna Fitzgerald.

What can I do for you, Anna?

That is so cool.

I want to sue my parents

for the rights to my own body.

Would you repeat that, please?

I want to sue my parents

for the rights to my own body.

My sister has leukemia. They're trying to

force me to give her my body parts.

You're supposed to give her a kidney?

She's been in renal failure

for months now.

No one can force you to donate

if you don't want to, can they?

They think they can.

- I'm under 18, they're my legal guardians.

- They can't do that.

That's what I want you to tell them...

...they've been doing it to me

my whole life.

I wouldn't even be alive

if Kate wasn't sick.

I'm a designer baby.

I was made in a dish

to be spare parts for Kate.

You're kidding, right?

CAMPBELL:

The kid wasn't lying.

The doctors started taking things

from her the moment she was born.

Cord blood as an infant,

white-cell transfusions...

...bone marrow, lymphocytes...

...injections to add more stem cells,

and then they took them too.

But it was never enough.

You do know what will happen if you don't

give your sister your kidney, don't you?

Yeah, she'll die.

So there's a little over $ 700 here.

And I know that's not enough,

but it's all I have and I need your help.

Please.

You sure you want to

go through with this?

Good for you.

SARA:

It's hard to imagine now...

...but there was a time

before all this happened...

...when the kids were just kids,

and everyone was happy.

SARA:

Hi, baby.

- Where's your sister?

- Sleeping.

I tried poking her and everything.

SARA:

Hey, Katie-Cat.

Good morning, sweetie. Are you awake?

How you doing?

Rise and shine.

SARA:

Anemia, right?

- Kids her age don't get mono, do they?

WAYNE:
Could be a virus.

I'll have to draw some blood

and run a few tests.

Kate's white cell count's

much lower than normal.

- What's that mean?

- I don't know.

She may have an autoimmune deficiency.

Could just be a lab error.

SARA:

Oncology?

But that's cancer.

WOMAN:

Mr. And Mrs. Fitzgerald?

I'm Ileana Farquad.

KATE:
Hello.

- Hi.

So I took a look at Kate's CBC.

Her white blood count is very low.

She's also presenting with

12% promyelocytes and 5% blasts...

...which does indicate

a leukemic syndrome.

Leukemic?

Cancer.

I'll need a bone marrow

aspiration to confirm...

...but it seems that Kate could have what

is called acute promyelocytic leukemia.

I'm sorry.

MAN:

Respiration's normal.

BRIAN:

St. Joe's doesn't know sh*t.

You remember when the chief's son was

playing with Jesse and broke his left arm?

They put a cast on his right.

I'm not gonna let her die.

You know that, right?

I'm not.

Hello?

KELLY:

We heard her coughing...

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