09/09/2026
Kertisha Brabson was 31 and a mother of two when her body suddenly turned on her in September 2018. She started reaching for things that were not there, talking incoherently, and dancing as if she was at a concert. Her mother, Kertease Williams, knew right away that something had taken over her daughter.
A seizure soon pushed Kertisha into a coma. Doctors eventually identified the cause as anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a rare condition in which the immune system attacks the brain’s own cells. It was only first recognized by doctors in 2007, which is part of why her case grew so severe before anyone understood what was happening.
As the outlook worsened, Williams said she was told her daughter was brain dead and encouraged to pull the plug. She refused. She had Kertisha moved to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, where a team treated the condition and her seizures aggressively.
On 7 April 2019, Kertisha opened her eyes. To her, no time had passed at all. She still thought it was September, the same moment she had fallen asleep seven months earlier, until a nurse told her she had been asleep for seven months. By that Christmas she was back home with her mother and her two children, Diamonique and Perez.