NPR

'You Make Your Own Family': Losing A Mother, Gaining 2 More

Corinthia Isom was just a child when her mother died, but her mom ensured a mother figure stayed in her life.
Corinthia Isom, right, was just a child when her mother died. At StoryCorps in 2015, Kathleen Payne, left, told Isom why her mom trusted her to take care of her daughter.

When Corinthia Isom was a child, her mother sat her down on the steps of their home to tell her she had a deadly illness.

"I have HIV, and things are gonna change within our lives," Isom says, recounting the words of her mother, DeSeane Isom.

DeSeane was a single

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