Angela Velez is back home again, and she can thank a compassionate Norwood nursing home for that.

Velez, who turned 26 in April, was admitted to a local hospital in May 2015 with gallstones and acute pancreatitis. After most of her pancreas was removed, she was told by doctors that she had 24 hours to live, say her parents, Juana and Luis Velez.

But Angela endured for months in the hospital, aided by a ventilator and feeding tubes.  By the end of September, she had completed her course of hospital treatment, and was ready to be released for rehabilitation services.

The Velez family had to battle huge bureaucratic hurdles to get Angela admitted to a nursing facility that would be a manageable distance from their home.  Often patients under the age of 50 experience similar problems finding appropriate nursing care, as these facilities, most times, as a hard-and-fast rule, cater to an older clientele.

The Velezes are now indebted to the Bainbridge Nursing & Rehabilitation Center at 3519 Bainbridge Ave. for the five months of care that made the difference between life and death for Angela.

Angela is now, to all appearances, in good health, judging from how she smiled and spread cheer at a party held in her honor at the nursing home on the day before her release.

A huge decorated cake with chocolate frosting and colorful spring flowers was cut to celebrate her victory.  Angela was dressed in yellow, bright as a daffodil, surrounded by her care team. Bainbridge administrator Suzanne Hogan thanked everyone who was a part of Angela’s success.

“The care team never gave up,” said Juana Velez. Luis Velez agreed that his daughter, while “a tough cookie,” was not always compliant with the things she was asked to do.

Carrie Ann Roe Nichols, Hogan’s chief aide, is given a great deal of the credit for where Angela is today.