One was abandoned by her parents.
Another, just to live past 15, had to block out large swaths of her childhood.
A third believed that her toxic upbringing made suicide preferable.
What follows are stories of three resilient women born into poverty, a handed-down legacy of choked-off hope.
Yet somehow, each overcame crushing obstacles to advance from a hard beginning to a happy ending _ or, at least, an ongoing progress report of: so-far, so-good.
