About the Author
About Julie Francis
Julie Francis is the author of the Room 11 series, a collection of books based on true events and written from multiple perspectives, both her own and her husband Shaun’s. Together, their voices tell the story of addiction, medical trauma, marriage, and faith, not as a polished testimony, but as it was lived: fractured, frightening, and ultimately redemptive.
Julie and Shaun had been married for over thirteen years when Shaun’s drinking, which began in 2013, quietly escalated into a life-threatening addiction. What made it harder to recognize was how well it was hidden -not the drinking itself, but the severity of it. Shaun did not fit common stereotypes. There were no obvious signs, no dramatic scenes. It wasn’t until pancreatitis brought him into the hospital that the truth became impossible to ignore.
What followed was a medical crisis that unfolded rapidly and violently. Shaun experienced organ failure, severe infections, and multiple comas. His body was sustained by machines while doctors warned Julie that survival was unlikely. At different moments, she was asked to make decisions no one is prepared for. They were choices where the options were not between good and bad, but between bad and worse. Throughout it all, she remained at his bedside, advocating relentlessly, insisting that he be treated not as a case number, but as a human being who is a husband, a father, a friend.
Julie’s role during this time went far beyond that of a spouse. She became Shaun’s voice when he could not speak, his protector when his body and mind were failing, and his anchor when addiction and brain trauma altered his behavior and personality. There were moments of fear, anger, and heartbreak. There were moments when leaving felt not only understandable but necessary, especially for the sake of their young daughter. And yet, when Shaun was at his most broken, Julie chose to stay.
Recovery did not arrive quickly or cleanly. When Shaun woke from a prolonged coma, he had to relearn how to walk, speak, write, swallow, and function. Physical therapy, speech therapy, and rehabilitation became full-time work. Sobriety followed, and not with announcements or declarations, but with quiet finality. Alcohol simply disappeared from their home, replaced by consistency, accountability, and the slow rebuilding of trust.
The Room 11 series reflects this journey in full honesty. It does not romanticize addiction, illness, or marriage. Instead, it allows space for complexity, for anger alongside love, for boundaries alongside commitment, and for faith that often existed as persistence rather than certainty. By including Shaun’s perspective alongside her own, Julie offers readers a rare and compassionate look at how the same crisis can be experienced differently by the people living inside it.
Julie writes for those who have loved someone through addiction or serious illness. For caregivers who learned medical language before they were ready. For spouses who stayed longer than they thought they could. And for anyone who has sat in a waiting room, unsure whether hope was realistic but unwilling to let go.
Her work is grounded in one simple belief: that even in the darkest rooms, light has a way of finding you, and sometimes, staying is the bravest act of faith there is.
You Are Not Alone
You don’t have to be strong here.
You don’t have to have answers.
If these pages remind you that you’re not alone then they are doing what they were written to do.