“When I was 21, I spent my summer working in a breast cancer research lab and co-captaining my soccer team. I was studying medical laboratory science at the University of Alberta and aiming for a career in academia. I was in great health and my whole life was ahead of me. Then I got what seemed to be the flu.
While I was sick, I started having memory issues. It was unsettling — memory had always been my strong suit. Then, months after the flu-like symptoms passed, I started noticing language issues, executive dysfunction, slowed processing speed, and disorientation. It felt like dementia. I couldn’t perform lab procedures I once knew by heart. I couldn’t even manage to make a basic meal. But outwardly, I still looked perfectly healthy.
Some doctors suggested I had depression or atypical bipolar disorder. But I knew I was losing my mind in ways mental health labels couldn’t capture. Still, I followed the guidance I was given. I tried antidepressants, got outside more, and took up yoga as recommended. None of it stopped my brain from slowly going offline.
It wasn’t until I became catatonic and had to be hospitalized — five years into the decline — that a psychiatrist recognized what others had missed. She arranged comprehensive neurological testing, and when the results came back, she told me, ‘This is autoimmune encephalitis.’ Ever since that illness years earlier, my immune system had been attacking my brain.
It was a three-year fight to get access to effective immunotherapies, but it led to long-term remission. I gradually regained my cognitive function and reversed a loss of over 30 IQ points. Sometimes I wonder how different things might have been if I hadn’t fallen through the cracks. Still, I feel incredibly grateful to have my brain back, even if I lost much of my 20s along the way.
These days, I’m back in the medical arena, focused on embedding patient expertise across research and health systems. I’ve spoken on a panel for Science magazine and shared my story with the Mayo Clinic and the American Academy of Neurology. My goal is to help close those cracks so others don’t fall through them the way I did.”
