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She's so young to be in here!" That was my first thought on meeting Gloria. At forty-eight, this Mexican-American woman had recently been admitted to the nursing home I was visiting with my Legion of Mary group. Though I liked her right off, I had no idea that our friendship would evolve into one of God's greatest gifts to me.
Gloria had AIDS, I discovered. She had contracted it from her husband and was an innocent victim of this disease, as so many people are. My heart went out to her when she told me that her husband had committed suicide not long after she entered the home.
“I’m Dying.” Early one morning after my first visit, a nurse from the home called with a request. Gloria wondered if I could see her that afternoon, after her doctor’s appointment.
I arrived to find her lying on a couch in the hall outside her room. Tears ran down her face as she reached out for me. “I’m dying,” she said. “The doctor told me I’m at the end stage. I want to go home to my mother.” Home was Kansas. Gloria had no family in Washington state and had…
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