Three-year-old Vanessa Duarte passed away Dec. 6, 1996 after falling ill from her second bilateral lung transplant. She was diagnosed with acute pulmonary hypertension. Her mother, then 23-year-old Sgt. Lawanda Hall, was grieving her child’s death while being swarmed with bills from the hospitals, transplant coordinating team, critical care units, funeral costs and travel costs. Greatly in debt, Hall looked for aid from the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society, a nonprofit charitable organization sponsored by the Department of the Navy. The NMCRS helped Hall create a budget for her family to pay off the debt that they had accumulated. They were later given a grant. - Three-year-old Vanessa Duarte passed away Dec. 6, 1996 after falling ill from her second bilateral lung transplant. She was diagnosed with acute pulmonary hypertension. Her mother, then 23-year-old Sgt. Lawanda Hall, was grieving her child’s death while being swarmed with bills from the hospitals, transplant coordinating team, critical care units, funeral costs and travel costs. Greatly in debt, Hall looked for aid from the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society, a nonprofit charitable organization sponsored by the Department of the Navy. The NMCRS helped Hall create a budget for her family to pay off the debt that they had accumulated. They were later given a grant.