Editor’s Note: Deb Whybrew and staff writer David Slone are cousins.

After her bus accident earlier this month, Deb Whybrew, of Silver Lake, heard a lot of false rumors of what happened and what caused the crash.

She also learned she has a brain tumor, and that the accident helped doctors find the tumor early.

On Sept. 9, Whybrew said, she was driving a Warsaw Community School bus from the high school to a gas station with no students onboard. She has been a bus driver for WCS for about 13 years. On the way to the station, she passed out and hit her head. When she woke up, she was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.

“They’re calling it a syncope episode, which is what I passed out from,” Whybrew said. Syncope is a temporary loss of consciousness usually related to insufficient blood flow to the brain.

WCS released a statement later that day saying at about 2:30 p.m., a WCS bus was involved in an accident on Ind. 15 after dropping off all students at earlier stops. The accident was the result of a medical emergency and no students or vehicles were involved in the crash.

On Friday, WCS Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said, “We’re just thinking and praying for her. First of all, you never want an accident to happen. Thankfully, no students were on the bus, and then she was able to find a medical diagnosis out of that accident. It could be something that’s life-changing.”

He said as Whybrew is a longtime employee of the school system, there will always be a job in the school system for her, whether that’s in the transportation system or elsewhere.

“We’re just thinking and praying for her and will be supporting her any way we can,” Hoffert said.

When Whybrew was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital after the bus accident – where Whybrew also has worked as a unit clerk for the last 14 to 15 years – a drug panel was done, which is standard operating procedure, and it came back negative, she said.

“They wanted to do a CT scan, which came back irregular. They saw something suspicious,” Whybrew said, which was a shadow on the scan. “Then they admitted me and the next day they did an EEG and an Echo of my heart, which came back fine.”

Whybrew said they found no problems with her heart and she did not have a heart attack or stroke, contrary to some of the rumors.

“Then they did the MRI, and that showed a spot above my right ear, which is the tumor,” she said.

After doctors determined it was a tumor, they did a second MRI to confirm the tumor, then sent Whybrew to a neurologist.

A cardiologist confirmed she had no heart problems, while the neurologist confirmed the brain tumor.

Having consulted a neurosurgeon this week, Whybrew is scheduled to have surgery Monday.

The tumor is a glioma, which Whybrew said usually isn’t found until it’s too late. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a giloma is a type of tumor that occurs in the brain and spinal cord. They usually begin in the gluey supportive cells that surround nerve cells and help them function. Like most primary brain tumors, the exact cause of gliomas are not known.

Whybrew said the tumor is often found too late for many people, but because of the bus accident, doctors believe they found it early enough.

“It scared me to death,” she admitted. “A lot of thoughts went through my mind. Is this a life-and-death situation? Yes, because if I don’t do anything with it, it will take over my brain, but I’m thankful that it is operable. There may be radiation and chemo involved because they don’t know if it’s cancer yet or not until they do a biopsy. They don’t know what caused it.”

Deb is married to Joe Whybrew, and they have two sons – Jared, 18, a recent Warsaw Community High School graduate; and Justin, 13, an Edgewood Middle School student. She also has two sisters and a brother, and their spouses. She said they’re not really talking about the tumor and are trying to make the best of it.

“One day at a time,” she said. “I’m just trying to be strong for them.”

She just asks that people respect their space while they’re dealing with her medical situation. “If I don’t call or text back when you call or text, don’t think I’m mad at you. I’m just having a moment or I don’t feel good or I’m trying to sleep,” she said.

Whybrew also asked that people give her sons their privacy, especially for Justin at school.

Along with her jobs at WCS and KCH, she also has worked for Cardinal Services for the last three years. After surgery, recovery and therapy, Whybrew’s doctors said it could be at least six weeks before she can go back to her jobs.

During the interview Friday, Whybrew said she gets headaches, but that has been about it. She had no signs or symptoms before the accident on Sept. 9.

“No vision loss, no ringing in the ears, no headaches, no nothing before; that’s why the doctor was so shocked,” she said.

She’s already spent four days in the hospital and expects to spend another week in the hospital before starting radiation and chemotherapy. Doctors will remove two 2-inch-by-2-inch sections from her skull during Monday’s surgery.

“I’m hoping to return quickly to work,” she said.

A GoFundMe page to help the Whybrew family with medical expenses can be found under “Help for Debbie” at www.gofundme.com/f/htz95b-help-for-debbie