It is the words about " I need to pray 3 for this and 3 for that" that makes me suspect someone has picked up one of those “guaranteed to work!” pamphlets.
I make and give away dozens of Rosaries/Chaplets every year, I love the rosary.
As CarmeliteKnight said, the 54 day Rosary Novena comes from the 19th century apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary aka Our Lady of Pompeii to Fortuna Agrelli. The devotion was promoted by Blessed Bartolo Longo, who is known for being a former Satanic priest who converted, reformed, and dedicated much of his life to promoting Our Lady and the rosary. He built the original Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, which was later expanded upon by Pope Pius XI.
While this apparition has not been officially “Vatican approved” (and occurred before the current “approval processes” were in place), Pope Pius XI authorized the current shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, Pope Paul VI crowned the image of Our Lady and Jesus, and Pope John Paul II visited the shrine twice and beatified Blessed Bartolo Longo. So this devotion is seen as traditionally accepted, and is on quite firm ground.
The image of Our Lady of Pompeii that was crowned (shown at the top of the Miracle Hunter link I posted) is well known and frequently venerated among Italian Catholics, and can be found also in some Italian-American churches. In one of the Italian-American churches I frequent, I believe there is also a depiction of Our Lady of Pompeii appearing to Fortuna Agrelli (who is depicted as a young girl lying sick in bed), hanging in the church.
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/pompeii/index.html
Obviously it is not necessary for one to know all this background or believe in the private revelation in order to pray the 54 day Novena, but I myself think it’s rather nice, and I have hope that Blessed Bartolo will be canonized. I myself have not yet been to the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, but it’s on my list of holy places I would like to visit.