A heart-breaker

Yvonne is in her 70s. She was so looking forward to the release of her daughter from prison. Debra had served nearly 14 years, but she was being freed a few weeks ago.

"I didn't even recognize her," said her mother. "She was all bent over, she couldn't connect her words, and she was stuttering." "I don't know what's wrong, Mamma," said the released prisoner. "My head hurts."

The next day, Debra collapsed at home and her mother had to call an ambulance.

She was taken to Henry Ford Hospital, and that's when the truth was discovered. Debra has brain cancer. Not just any old brain cancer: Glioblastoma. The kind you don't want. The aggressive, fast growing kind. Its victims do not survive. Surgery was performed on one of her five tumors, to relieve pressure on that part of the brain that deals with motor skills. She's in a nursing home now as therapists try to help her walk again. As for the prognosis, looks like she may have a year to live.

"I couldn't get answers to any questions when she was in prison," said Yvonne. "She had a stroke a few weeks before she was released, "but I can't find anything in her medical records to show that they did an MRI of her head."

Apparently Debra had been complaining of headaches and speech problems, but her mother said that prisoners who seem to complain too much somehow get branded as trouble-makers and get less attention.

There's no proof of any of this. And of course, nobody's talking. All Yvonne wants is some answers, some closure. But it appears that ain't gonna happen.

Yvonne's dream for a future with her daughter turned into a nightmare.

Pray for both of them.

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