My sister Tammy is 36 years old and has cancer. She has been told she has two months to live, and she will be bed ridden in approx 3-4 weeks. Tammy currently lives in Michigan and will be coming to our Mother’s house in Northern California on the 14th of July. She will be cared for at this location until she passes.


Tammy has a daughter named Rachael who is 22 months old. She has shared custody of her daughter with Rachael’s father, Jeff . Since being told Tammy was terminal, Jeff has kept Rachael from her. She had requested a hearing to try and get parenting time and to bring Rachel to California to spend a few weeks together before Tammy passes.


The case was presented on 11 July 2006 to Judge Arthur J Lombard. He proceeded to rule that Tammy would not be allowed time with her daughter. She then appealed the decision and was told by the same judge, the very next day she may have supervised visits with her daughter for 30 days, but only from the hours of 9 am to 7 pm and she must stay in Michigan.



My sister needs someone to care for her during her final days. All of her Family is located in California, which requires Tammy to fly out there. Judge Lombard is denying Tammy her right as a mother because she is sick and will need constant care. My entire family and I find this unacceptable. How can one person alter so many lives without even meeting the people whom he is making the decision for? How can he even deny a Grandmother’s right to have visitation? This same Grandmother is an upstanding member of her community and a long time member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Anderson, California. She is also a preschool teacher in the Catholic School. We also have many other adult family members to help care for both my sister and the child during these next 60 days.


My sister does not have the time to wait for the system to help and somehow the system has failed her and her daughter.


If you want to keep up with her status you can check the website we started for her at helptammy (dot) com

Thank you for your prayers