Stuart Neal and Sharon Guest fell in love. Like many couples they found that they couldn't have children so they decided to adopt a child from China. It seems a simple solution to a painfully personal problem and in many countries in the world it is not a complicated matter. That is, everywhere except Australia. So begins a long journey, as exhilarating as it is tragic. Eventually after a halting and tedious process which involves a trip to China they bring their new baby, Jessie, home to begin her new life. But Sharon, in the way that parents do, feels that something isn't quite right about Jessie. She's too serious and immobile and learns quite slowly but at other times she is funny and gregarious - and the perfect child. Jessie is deaf but for the family life is constrained but good.
Despite the difficulties involved in the overseas adoption system, Stuart and Sharon adopt another child, BiBi, but with her arrival Jessie seems to go down hill. They seek medical help and hear what no parent is ever prepared to hear. Their beautiful daughter has a degenerative condition. She will be lucky to see out her twelfth birthday.
And so begins an arduous battle to get assistance with Jessie's ever worsening helath and the strain it is putting on the marriage. There's the mind numbing silliness and distressingly careless management of the Department of Community Services and other state bodies who might help. Eventually, the only way the family can gain the necessary assistance is to refuse to take Jessie home from a hospital. She is taken into care.
The story continues until we finally have the family restored and Jessie, constrained as her life is increasingly becoming, will see out her days in the arms of her loving family in supported care. Jessie Mei Mei is frank and honest, and heartbreaking, and surprisingly funny. But in the end it is a story about human kindness and the power of love to overcome all.
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