Woman Learns She Has Same Disease that Took the Lives of Her Mom and Sister, Leaving Teenage Son 'Absolutely Devastated'

Mar. 15, 2025

Holly Turner is trying to make memories with her teenage son after she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).Photo:SWNS

SWNS

A mom has been diagnosed with a progressive neurodegenerative illness — the same one that her late mom and sister had — and now, she’s trying to make memories with her teenage son.

Holly Turner, 45, first started to feel a twitch in her leg four years ago when she was caring for her late sister, 50, who was struggling withamyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)— called motor neuron disease (MND) in the UK. Their mother, who died in 2013, also had the same disease, which is also known asLou Gehrig’s disease.

Turner, who hails from the English town of Hastings, said doctors initially said the stressful situation caused her to developbenign fasciculation syndrome,which theCleveland Clinicexplains are “harmless,” albeit “annoying” twitches that aren’t the result of an underlying medical condition.

Holly Turner’s ALS was originally misdiagnosed as POTS.SWNS

But in October 2021, Turner was hospitalized for 11 daysafter fainting. It was then that doctors diagnosed her with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known asPOTS. Theconditioncauses your heart to rapidly beat when you transition from sitting or lying down to standing up, making you faint, feel dizzy, or experience shortness of breath.

At the time, Turner was tested for ALS/MND, but tests came back negative.

After her sister died in July 2023, Turner continued to experience symptoms — and after struggling with cramps and weakness in her right foot, she was diagnosed with the progressive disease. Although there are therapies for ALS/MND, there is “no cure,” theCleveland Clinicexplains, as muscles continue to atrophy, leading to “life-threatening outcomes.”

Holly Turner, 45, is trying to make memories with her teen son amid her progressive ALS struggle.SWNS

At first, McQueen said her daughter-in-law was reluctant to do a fundraiser, saying, “She’s not the sort of person who likes the limelight … But she understands that if she doesn’t do this she won’t get to make these memories.”

As she explains, “When she walks she can only walk for a couple of minutes — then her legs start to burn, because the muscles are dying.”

source: people.com