Alexandria Thompson, 20, suffers from seizures. The seizures can't be controlled with medication, forcing doctors to operate on her brain to fix the problem, WTVD reported.
"I was always scared," mom Marcella Thompson, told the news station. "I've been scared for three years."
The procedure was so expensive that Marcella Thompson and her daughter became homeless.
Pam Andrews, the wife of Durham County Sheriff Michael Andrews, met Marcella Thompson by chance in the waiting room of Duke University Hospital.
"Honestly, I reached into my purse and dug out the last bit of cash I had on me and said, 'Please take her to lunch,'" Andrews told WTVD.
"I took her to Chick-Fil-A and she got the milkshake, the lemonade and the sandwich and she was so happy," Marcella Thompson said.
When Andrews shared the story with her husband, the Sheriff's Office stepped in to help. With help from the community, they found the family housing and raised enough money for food.
"It just takes a little to save someone's life, and that's really what they did for me and my daughter," Marcella Thompson said.
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