Bitter Legacy

A powerful memoir from 1977 to the present, this narrative follows a boy's journey through foster care in rural Michigan, his adoption by the Roeters family, and his struggle with undiagnosed health issues - hairlessness, hearing loss, chronic pain. The story traces his family's moves to Colorado, then to remote Kotzebue, Alaska, where he finds first love with Iriuruq, becomes an EMT, and appears on national television. After his father's illness forces a return to Michigan, he endures devastating losses—Iriuruq's suicide, his parents' deaths, a crippling stroke—while eventually reuniting with his children and grandson, finding peace in a camper on family land, writing to heal.