When an idealistic activist objects to her siblings’ plan to ship their disabled sister off to a nursing home, she’s forced to choose between family and her sister’s freedom.

TRIGGER WARNING: This true story deals with dysfunctional family relationships and ableist attitudes, which some readers may find upsetting.

“The result is more than a memoir: it’s a testimony to how ‘tickets to freedom’ are gained through fighting and love.”

D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

A true story about disability, sisters, and standing up for the right to be yourself.

Franke James is an environmental activist who got into trouble in her own backyard-family trouble. She objected when she heard her siblings’ plan to put their disabled sister, Teresa Heartchild, into a nursing home. Teresa, who has Down syndrome, refused to go. But the other siblings insisted and secretly put Teresa into an institution for end-of-life care.

Teresa was in shock. Franke was horrified and organized a rescue. That’s when all hell broke loose. The two sisters had to stand together-against their siblings, the medical system, and the police-to defend Teresa’s right to be free.

This is a true story about a key civil rights issue for all people with disabilities-the right to decide where you live.

THIRTY-THREE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS, Including:

NYC Big Book Award, 2024

Winner, Social/Political Change
Winner, Audiobook Nonfiction

IAN Book of the Year Awards (2024)

Nonfiction: “Outstanding True Story,” Book of the Year

eLit Awards(2024)

Audiobook, Autobiography/Biography, Silver

Literary Titan (Q4 2024)

Nonfiction, Gold

BookFest Awards, Fall 2024

Three Silver Winners, including Memoir, Personal Nonfiction

Human Relations Indie Book Award Winner, 2024

Gold Award, Family Challenges
Gold Award, Special Needs (Disability Rights)

Firebird Book Awards, Q2, 2024

Judges’ Pick
1st place, Social/Political Change
1st place, Special Needs (Disability Rights)
2nd place, Leadership
2nd place, Inspiration

Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards, Summer 2024

1st Place, Inspiration

Author Biography

Franke James is an artist, activist and the author of four books on human rights, climate change, free expression, and ethics. For her, these issues are all connected by the need to speak up and take action. The spark for Freeing Teresa was lit in 2013. Franke and her husband Billiam James helped her younger sister get out of a nursing home and then helped Teresa ask for an apology. Earlier that same year, Franke had published Banned on the Hill, which led to her winning the BC Civil Liberties Award for Excellence in the Arts. Her related poster campaign, “Do Not Talk About Climate Change,” appeared in three Canadian cities and Washington, DC. In 2015, Franke was awarded PEN Canada’s Ken Filkow Prize for “tenacity in uncovering an abuse of power and commitment to fostering a national conversation in the face of censorship.” Franke lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband and her sister, Teresa. Billiam James is an activist, artist, designer and award-winning videographer. In 2013, he helped his wife, Franke, get her younger sister, Teresa, out of a nursing home and brought her to live with them. Together, they helped Teresa ask for an apology for the wrongful institutionalization. After two years of campaigning, the Ontario Minister of Health publicly apologized to Teresa. Billiam combines storytelling, visual art, music, and social activism to effect change. Over the past three decades, he has produced creative work addressing the following themes: disability rights, mental health, climate change, and free speech. He lives in Vancouver, BC, with Franke James and sister-in-law Teresa Heartchild. Teresa Heartchild is an artist, self-advocate, and author who has Down syndrome. Teresa has shown remarkable resilience and courage. In 2013, a social worker said she was incapable of deciding where she would live. Teresa was put into a Toronto nursing home. Within days, her father, her sister Franke, and her brother-in-law, Bill, helped her get discharged. Teresa had a new capacity test done that determined she could decide where to live. Two years of campaigning later, BC Civil Liberties wrote to the Ontario government on Teresa’s behalf: “We are gravely concerned that the government, through its actions, appears to condone the forced placement and mistreatment of developmentally disabled adults.” The Ontario Minister of Health responded by publicly apologizing to Teresa. The BC Human Rights Commissioner named Teresa a “Champion for Change.” In 2023, Teresa is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of her rescue and lives with her sister, Franke, in Vancouver, BC.