“I had bizarre abnormal movements, would leave my arms out extended, you know, in front of me. I was a relatively normal person, then the next minute I’m hallucinating and insisting that my father had kidnapped me,” said Susannah.

Susannah says this is how doctors explained it to her parents, “He told them her brain is on fire. He used those words: ‘Her brain is on fire.’”

“You know, thousands of people have now been diagnosed, so it’s a rare condition, but it’s not exceedingly rare. It’s not as rare as initially thought,” said Susannah.

Emily and her parents now want to warn others about the mysterious disease.

“There could be people in comas right now or people stuck in psych wards that have this disease and aren’t being treated properly,” said Emily.

At this point, there is no cure. Emily and Susannah could relapse, which would require a new round of treatments.

[link to philadelphia.cbslocal.com]