Sophie's mother, Anne

Have you ever witnessed any of these episodes? Yes, I have. Yes, I have. I've been, you know. What did you see? Well, it varies. It could be all of a sudden you're in the middle of a conversation with her and then her face just kind of goes blank. Okay. That's kind of a gentle one. She can come in and out. Okay. She does hypotherapy with horses, which often will bring her out of an episode. Okay.

So she could have five, six, seven episodes left dead in a day. Oh, okay. She could go for a week and not have any episodes like that. If it's a more severe episode, she could, I don't know, not so much crying, but she can't speak words, so she might cry in frustration and her hands are gripping and curling in pain and she might swing her arm. Okay.

You know, somebody might see her facial expressions and think it's, I don't know, an angry outburst, but she's... Her brain knows that she can't function and it inwardly upsets her, but she doesn't know how to speak it.

I get that. And then the worst episodes, which I have also seen, she is flat on her back on the sofa, curled up her hands and feet and legs for days and days, unresponsive.

Those are the worst.

I think once when I was out in Seattle, I stayed with Sophie's older daughter while Sophie went in with the doctor. So I've not attended any, but I usually get a good briefing when we have to go to Duke.

Many AHC children don't live to even 20 years old.

So I'm just going to say, and this is from a grandmother, I can't even imagine what my daughter is going through right now. If somebody has filed a complaint on this, after everything she did, she's an incredible mother.