MONTROSE, Mo. — It took Samantha Lesmeister’s family four months to find a medical professional who could see that she was struggling with something more than her Down syndrome.
The young woman, known as Sammee, had become unusually sad and lethargic after falling in the shower and hitting her head. She lost her limited ability to speak, stopped laughing, and no longer wanted to leave the house.
General-practice doctors and a neurologist said such mental deterioration was typical for a person with Down syndrome entering adulthood, recalled her mother, Marilyn Lesmeister. They said nothing could be done.
