NEW YORK — Fifteen years ago, Alex Cohen knew something was wrong. Always smiling and upbeat, she was used to being on her feet all day, hardly ever slowing down or pacing herself. Now, her foot constantly hurt, she experienced memory loss and fatigue, and other neurological issues. At times, Cohen couldn’t get out of bed or remember where she lived. Simple tasks such as driving by herself became terrifying.
Alex’s husband, hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen, a confident money manager and usually unflappable, grew more worried about his wife as her condition became more stressful. Doctor after doctor, expert after expert, was unable to pinpoint a root cause. Multiple times, she was misdiagnosed. Motherhood made no room for her limitations. No matter how much Cohen, then 43, was ailing, she still had young kids, including a five-year-old daughter, to take care of while tending to her own health problems. Her kids still needed to go to school early in the morning, and when they came home, somebody needed to be there to help with their homework.
After two years, and a lot of dollars spent, Cohen was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2009. Cohen tried lots of different supplements and antibiotics, but it wasn’t until she flew to Germany five years ago, for hyperthermia treatment that was not yet approved in the United States, that Cohen’s brain began functioning normally again. She underwent two weeks of intensive treatment at Klinik St. Georg, and recovered after three months, finally Lyme-free.
