US grandmother accused of drug trafficking met 'limit to what anyone can handle' in Hong Kong prison

Celia Eberhard was a healthy 65-year-old grandmother from California with a sense of adventure when she arrived in Hong Kong in the spring of last year for a short holiday.

But days later, she was thrown in jail, accused of trafficking dangerous drugs and facing a possible prison term of more than 20 years. For Eberhard, it was a potential death sentence.

Now 68, she has spent her past two birthdays behind bars, fearing she would die in a Hong Kong jail.

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"For the first three months, I was numb," she says. "I've never been in trouble with any kind of law enforcement, so for me, this is not a normal thing to go through."

As she languished for more than 18 months in the Lo Wu Correctional Institute waiting for her trial, she desperately grasped at any glimmer of hope.

"The only thing that got me through was prayer and my belief in God. I'm not going to mince words, it was very hard. I'm strong, but still, there is a limit to what anyone can handle."

One of her darkest moments came when the person she expected to stand by her did the exact opposite. "My husband divorced me," she said. "I lost everything: I lost a marriage, I lost a home, I lost two of my kids."