Sonia Vallabh lost her mother to a rare brain disease in 2010, and then learned she had inherited the same genetic mutation. She and her husband, Eric Minikel, went back to school to study the family of illnesses — prion diseases — in the hope of finding a cure for Sonia. Kayana Szymczak for NPR hide caption
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Kayana Szymczak for NPR
Kayana Szymczak for NPR
In 2010, Sonia Vallabh watched her mom, Kamni Vallabh, die in a really horrible way.
First, her mom’s memory started to go, then she lost the ability to reason. Sonia says it was like watching someone get unplugged from the world. By the end, it was as if she was stuck between being awake and asleep. She was confused and uncomfortable all the time.
“Even when awake, was she fully or was she really? And when asleep, was she really asleep?” says Sonia.
The smart, warm, artistic Kamni – just 51 years old — was disappearing into profound dementia.
Listen To Part I
Did A Mother’s Death Foretell Her Daughter’s Fate?
A Mother’s Early Death Drives Her Daughter To Find A Treatment
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