Woman accused of stealing, substituting cancer medication

Woman accused of stealing, substituting cancer medication

BOSTON -

A Lynn woman faces two counts of felony larceny after police say she stole cancer medication from her longtime friend.

Donna Welch-Gowen was arraigned Monday on charges she swapped her friend's meds with ibuprofen on at least two separate occasions.

"I've known her for a long time -- 20 years I've known her -- and to think that she would steal my medication to get high," said the victim, Deborah Herrick, also of Lynn.

Herrick, 50, says she is heartbroken that her longtime friend would do this to her.

"I had a nervous breakdown right there," she told NewsCenter 5's Liam Martin on Wednesday. "I couldn't stop crying for four hours."

Herrick, suffering from stage 2 throat cancer, says a couple of weeks ago her symptoms worsened.

"I was having seizures after seizures," she said.

She went to the hospital, where the doctor told her she had abnormal levels of ibuprofen in her blood, and not enough of her cancer medication Neurontin, used to reduce pain and the risk of seizures in cancer patients..

Then she put it together.

She says she'd seen her friend, Welch-Gowen, snooping around her home, and her medication, just a few days before.

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