Deb Brink, a minister’s daughter who lives in the Grand Rapids area, testified at the state legislature in favor of medical marijuana in 1979. She first used medical marijuana in the late 1970s after she was diagnosed with leukemia and had to have a bone marrow transplant. She underwent daily subcutaneous injections which caused severe nausea, and she found that marijuana was the only thing that helped. She had been throwing up every 15 minutes, but marijuana stopped this and allowed her to finish out her chemotherapy regimen. It was, in fact, her strongly religious grandmother who first recommended that Deb try medical marijuana. Though she has not used it since that time, she is steadfast in her belief that it was the only thing that helped stop her nausea.

Deb has also had two small basal-cell carcinomas removed, as well as breast cancer and brain cancer (meningioma). Last year, she had a tumor removed from her brain on July 31. Deb continues to give speeches to other cancer survivors and church groups and strongly supports Proposal 1’s passage this November 4.