Deborah Herber was born and raised in Good Thunder and graduated from Amboy Good Thunder high school. She is a domestic violence survivor and an Army veteran. Both of which have made her strong and courageous. But the last two years have taken its toll on her as she has been forced to deal with rare medical conditions that have drained her body and her financial status. Please consider donating and or sharing her story. This is her story.......

"In 2021, I swerved to avoid hitting a fawn and over-corrected, causing me to roll my work truck, resulting in a fracture of my Thoracic Vertebrae. Then, in 2023, I developed a staph infection on my spine, causing me to need a laminectomy, which is where they removed a piece of my backbone. I started having knee pain in 2024, and it was decided that I needed to have knee replacement surgery, but due to the previous staph infection, they wanted to do both knees at the same time to minimize the chance of reinfection. In June 2024, I underwent surgery. I was supposed to be out of work for 6 weeks, but since the decision was made not to put me into inpatient rehab, my knee did not heal as it should have. I didn't have a full range of motion, so it required a manipulation surgery. In October 2024, I was back in surgery to bend my legs to give me the range of motion back. The manipulation did not give me back any of the range of motion that it was supposed to, so in January 2025, I underwent double revision surgery, which is where they opened my knees, removed everything, scraped the scar tissue out, and put me back together again. At this time, the left knee straightened, but the right one didn't. In July of 2025, I had to have a right knee replacement revision, which is where I am today. I have been out of work since June 2024, when I was forced to give up my job as the editor of our local newspaper. Right now, I go into physical therapy 3 days a week for about an hour a day, where they attach me to electrodes and then they put me in the ice machine to see if they can bring the swelling down. I walk with a walker and have minimal mobility. My right knee is now straight as well, but due to my limited mobility, I have lost muscle mass from the kneecap to the thigh on my right leg. I have been dealing with excruciating pain since the first surgery, and I am unable to sleep or sit comfortably. Because of the loss of muscle mass I am having to learn to walk all over again."