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After saving 661 babies, foster mom finds herself subject of a movie
By Lori Basheda
The Orange County Register
(MCT)
The medication she was taking for a damaged heart valve had slowed her metabolism to a snail's pace. She needed gastric bypass surgery to get rid of the fat, shrink her stomach and save her life.
Only one problem: Debbe was terrified she would die in surgery.
It was a Catch 22, she thought. Surgery or no surgery, I'm going to die.
But she couldn't die. There were still babies to save.
Then a light bulb went off.
Debbe called a TV producer she knew and told him she wanted to have gastric surgery and let a camera crew follow her into the operating room. "I figured if I had a camera crew with me, they're not gonna kill me," she said.
As a backup, she had "I (heart) Dr. Leport" painted on her toenail so the surgeon could see it while he carved away, in hopes that he would be more careful.
It apparently worked. Debbe lived. Her surgery wound up on a TV show on the Lifetime network. And she is now 180 pounds thinner and breathing easy.
I tell you that story because it is vintage Debbe.
What sort of person comes up with a plan to bring a TV camera crew into the operating room with them for protection?
Someone who thinks way outside the box, that's who.
Someone who sees a newspaper article about a baby found dead in a file cabinet in
Someone who then goes on TV to invite pregnant women who are desperate or in trouble to drop their newborn off in a whicker laundry basket on her
Debbe tells me she has a survivor mentality.
And because of that, 661 babies have survived.
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