Health spiraled downward before disease diagnosed

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP)
For an outsider looking in, a lot of days could have seemed like rock bottom for the Endorf family.

But one incident stands out in particular for Charlotte and Kevin Endorf of Norfolk.

Their 15-year-old daughter Sarah had been sick.

She got strep throat in March 2004. The doctor prescribed 10 days' worth of antibiotic. She didn't get better.

Her health worsened to mononucleosis-type symptoms - sleeping 20 hours a day where previously Sarah had been a light sleeper, Charlotte Endorf said.

But she tested negative for mono.

"Six doctors in Nebraska looked at her, scratched their heads and said, 'I have no clue what's wrong with your daughter.' Meanwhile, she's withering away before our eyes," Endorf said.

At that time, Sarah had dropped to 85 pounds, started to hallucinate and experience extreme pain.

But the Endorfs didn't really hit rock bottom until they traveled to Missouri to visit a doctor there.

At that time, Sarah had to be off of all of her medications in order to be tested again.

The family had just sat down to eat at a restaurant.

"She (Sarah) looked at the menu and looked at us and said, 'What's shrimp?' We looked at each other and looked at her and said, 'What do you mean, what's shrimp?'

"Tears were running down her face, and she said, 'I'm not kidding. I don't know what shrimp is.' We knew then, we had a problem," Endorf said.

"And then, we said, 'Well, we've eaten shrimp all of Lent. Your brother likes shrimp and you like shrimp.' And then she said, 'I have a brother?' . . . And Kevin and I both lost it, and we started crying."

Short-term memory loss was part of what Sarah was experiencing. That made sense after she finally was correctly diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is an illness caused by spirochete bacteria. The illness is transmitted to animals and man through the bite of infected ticks.

As part of the disease, Sarah has experienced numbness and tingling, severe pain, fatigue, depression and extreme eye sensitivity.

Since her diagnosis, she has been treated successfully with new medications, but she still has a few problems with her short-term memory.

Sarah was able to keep up with her schoolwork via online classes from the Norfolk Public Schools through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This year, she is a high school sophomore, and she started when all of the other students did.