Heather Summerhayes was six when her four-year-old sister Pam was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and given only months to live. “Sixtyfive roses” was the way Pam pronounced the name of the disease that forever altered the lives of her siblings and parents, who in turn helped alter the community’s response to the disease by founding the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. With the help of the CF Foundation, research and new treatments, the fight to save Pam’s lasted for years, until her death at the age of twenty-six.This beautifully written memoir offers a compassionate yet unflinching eyewitness account of the hope, pain, and courage of a family in crisis as it falls apart and outs itself together again and again, to emerge stronger and more loving. The heart of the story explores the relationship between the two sisters—one devastatingly ill, the other healthy but burdened with guilt—as they journey through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

Heather Summerhayes Cariou was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, and educated in Toronto and New York. Her father is the founding president of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. A former professional actress and dancer, Cariou lives with her husband, the actor Len Cariou, and enjoys a heart-stopping view of Manhattan from the Jersey shore.

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"Sixtyfive Roses is a love letter, a thank-you note, a defence, a plea, a setting straight, a reaching out. More than anything, it is an accomplishment worthy of Pam's belief in her big sister."

Globe and Mail

"A journey through a family's struggles and triumphs."

Winnipeg Free Press

"I couldn't put it down. The tale of these two sisters, how they laughed, cried and LIVED, is completely enthralling"

Angela Lansbury

"Touching, insightful and unflinchingly honest."

Brantford Expositor

"Candid and direct . . . a gripping often hair-raising account . . . a finely felt memoir."

London Free Press

"A powerful account."

Hamilton Spectator

"[Summerhayes] has found a platform that reaches out to people living in the shadow of illness or loss, limitations of obstacles."

Montreal Gazette