Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
The Obstacle is the Way
Jan 17, 2021
Sonia Vallabh was 27 when she discovered that she inherited the genetic mutation that killed her mother at age 51. Instead of crippling her, the news motivated her.
In 2009, Sonia Vallabh noticed that her mother’s memory had started to fail, soon followed by her ability to reason. Over the coming weeks and months, it was painful to watch as her mother spiraled into a state of constant confusion and discomfort. After her mother’s tragic passing in 2010 at the young age of 51, an autopsy showed that she had died from a rare type of disease known as prion disease.