Title: Freeling Theresa
Author: Franke James and Billiam James
Format: 🎧
Narrators: Jackie Blackmore, Dayleigh Nellson, Bill Mackie, Paila Hoffman, Rob Cottingham, Sidika Laarbes, Geoff Sugiyama, Laurel Bailey, Divina Soriano-Leacock, Justin Smallbridge and Kashiyap
Publisher: The James Gang, Iconoclasts Inc/Independent Book Publishers Association (IMPA) Members’ Audiobooks
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Audiobook Release Date: August 13, 2024
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages 344

I was drawn to this book as I remember how excited my niece as well as the rest of the family was when we found out she was having a girl after two boys. Also remember when she was told the baby had Down syndrome and it was early enough so she could terminate the pregnancy. She didn’t have to think about it – No, of course she would not!
I have watched this adorable little girl grow - become an active teen. She brings joy, love and hope to everyone she meets.

Oh Yes! I was sure this was going to be an emotional story.

This book is written by Franke James and it started ten years ago. In 2013,
Franke and her husband, Billiam James, set out to help Franke’s younger sister Teresa who has Down syndrome to, regain her decision-making rights, and not be placed into a nursing home. Teresa stayed with their father but after he died; the other siblings, who were acting as Teresa’s “guardians.” And insisted they had all the power and wanted Teresa to be placed into the government care system.
I want to thank NetGalley and The James Gang, Iconoclasts Inc/Independent Book Publishers Association (IMPA) Members’ Audiobooks for this audiobook.
Audiobook Publishing Date was August 13, 2024.

"Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me" by Franke James is a non-fiction book. It is about the time when several siblings decided to move their adult sister with Down's Syndrome into a nursing home for elderly people. It is set in Canada and mostly happens in the 2010s.

The siblings claimed to be trying to do the right thing to find care for Teresa when they felt their father needed to go into a care home for dementia. One sister, Franke, was very busy in her career with traveling, so she missed some of the initial planning stages of this. When she did join in, she disagreed with the other siblings and thought the father should stay home with Teresa and they could care for each other. The other siblings went ahead with their plans to put both the father and sister, Teresa, into care homes.

The whole story left a very sour taste to me. I could see both sides of this issue, and it was disturbing to see the family drama raise to such a high level of negativity. I do not think it was right for them to put Teresa in a home without any warning to her, nor the father. The family knew there was a better option for Teresa to move in with Franke and Bill, but bad blood made things very nasty.

It did seem as though the father needed more help. He had moments of lucidity and other times when he wasn't. This need was not seen or accepted by Franke.

The audiobook was narrated by Jackie Blackmore, Lauren Potter, Dayleigh Nelson, Cynthia Potvin, Bill Mackie, and several others. They did a terrific job with the audio!

The message of this book is that disabled people have rights about where they live and should be included in all care decisions.

Thank you to Netgalley, The James Gang, Iconoclasts, Inc., Independent Book Publishers Association, and Franke James for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I think this is a good book and a really sad but true representation of how family members can rift during important decisions. I am only giving 3.5 stars because it seems so unbeleivably one sided with Frankes account of what happened feeling very emotional and not always true. I know it is a biography of events but it just felt too fresh still and turned the siblings into evil villains which I am sure they weren't.
Thank you netgalley for letting me listen and read this book for review.

Thank you for this early copy .Being a nurse makes me want to read all about disorders and disabilities.This was a gut wrenching story .The characters flowers very well .I enjoyed the narrator .This is a must read for all families dealing with disabilities and the law.More books need to be told like this one.

The book centers around Teresa, a young woman with Down syndrome who lives with her elderly father after the passing of her mother. While most of her siblings want to place her in full-time care at a nursing home, her sister is determined to keep her out of such facilities. Tragically, thousands of young people with disabilities still find themselves in similar situations. Based on a true story, the author draws from her own experience of helping her sister leave a nursing home. I listened to the audiobook version.

Thanks to #TheJamesGang for the audio copy of #FreeingTeresa via #NetGalley.

Enter Theresa, an adult with Down syndrome, who lives with her aging father. Franke, one of Theresa’s five sibling and self-appointed “black sheep” of the family, challenges the rest of their siblings to question their own prejudices, and answer the toughest question of all, “Where will Theresa live once Dad goes?”

This is a family at odds, faced with navigating the challenging Canadian medical system and addressing the moral dilemma faced by many families facing with similar decisions. This is also a family who cares, even if they don’t agree on what that should looks like.

Narrated by a full cast, the reading style brought listeners deep into the intense family dynamic. I appreciated that they included a woman with Down syndrome to narrate Teresa’s story. However, the story was very dialogue heavy and the pacing felt slower than I would have liked. Summarizing more sections would have helped to carry the story on without losing the key parts of the storyline.

this audiobook was absolutely so moving and heart wrenching!!! i completely loved the narration and vulnerability of this story. tear jerker for sure. 5/5 stars