What Is Consumption in ‘V.C. Andrews’ Dawn’ on Lifetime?

Lifetime’s summer event series V.C. Andrews’ Dawn debuted over the weekend, kicking off the network’s highly-anticipated adaptation of the classic novel series. Dawn stars Brec Bassinger as the titular character, a young woman whose life is turned upside down when she discovers that her parents have been harboring a dark secret, one that will change her life forever.

The premiere episode was packed with lots of intrigue, drama, tension — and even death. SPOILERS ahead, because we have to talk about the truth behind Part 1’s most tragic moment.

How does Dawn’s mother die in V.C. Andrews’ Dawn?

When Sally Longchamp (Helena Marie) does not make a speedy recovery after giving birth to her daughter Fern, the rest of the family starts to get worried. Sally ignores their worries and insists that things are fine until they very suddenly are not. Sally is finally admitted to the hospital where she’s told that she has consumption, and a doctor kinda snottily tells the family that she should have been brought in “some time ago.” Well, doctor, it’s hard to make someone do something against their will! Sally doesn’t suffer too much longer, though; she passes away almost immediately after telling her daughter Dawn, “Please don’t ever think badly of us.”

What is consumption? Did Dawn’s mother catch it because of her pregnancy?

Consumption is more commonly referred to today as tuberculosis. It’s an infectious disease that is spread through the air, primarily affecting the lungs. Symptoms include fever, chills, fatigue, night sweats, and weight loss. For the 10% of people whose latent TB advances to active disease, the death rate is 50%. It’s said that 25% of the world’s population has latent tuberculosis, and around 1.5 million people die from it every year.

The first antibiotic to treat tuberculosis was developed in the 1940s. Dawn is set in 1973, just before the arrival of new strains of tuberculosis that were resistant to medicine. Sally also develops TB immediately after giving birth. Now, I’m no doctor but this site that has a .gov address says that “early postpartum women are more likely to develop tuberculosis than nonpregnant women mainly due to immune reconstitution after delivery.” So that plus the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant forms of TB meant Sally’s days were sadly numbered.

Whether or not the TB affected Sally’s daughter Fern is something we’ll have to keep a look out for in future episodes of V.C. Andrews’ Dawn — well, at least those of us who haven’t read the novels will have to wonder if this is the last we’ve seen of the disease.

V.C. Andrews’ Dawn continues on Lifetime on Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m. ET.