Angie Kaempfen initially believed her illness two years ago was just a bad cold.

The 16-year-old University of Toronto Schools student was an active teenager, playing the violin and also enjoying swimming. But she found herself short of breath at hip hop dance lessons and felt lethargic all the time.

“Once it started to get worse, I got more concerned,” Kaempfen said.

“I’ve been anxious about my health for a really long time, so I almost tried to ignore it because I was like, ‘Oh, you’re worrying about nothing. I shouldn’t think about it too much.’ But then it started to get a lot worse.”

In June 2023, Kaempfen woke up one night and collapsed on the floor. She remembered hitting her head and telling her mother that she felt as if she was dying.

Her mother, being a doctor herself, brou

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