Desiree Jennings

Desiree Jennings was living a dream come true. The 25-year-old had a marketing job at a major company, was married to a handsome, successful man, and had challenging hobbies: she was an avid runner, and a cheerleading ambassador for the Washington Redskins football team.

But almost overnight Jennings went from the picture of happiness and health, to a twisted, stuttering vision of pain and suffering.

After a routine flu shot last fall, Jennings said she began experiencing fever and painful body aches. The symptomsquickly progressed until she could only walk with a twisted, halting gait, and had trouble reading, doing simple math — even remembering things. Her condition put a halt on her once-frenetic lifestyle.

“I want to work, I want to be doing something,” she said. “But who’s going to hire somebody who can’t remember what they did the day before?”

Jennings developed another odd symptom — a strange foreign accent; the Midwestern woman suddenly sounded British. “It sounds like an accent, but it’s not. I just can’t pronounce words anymore,” she said.

But perhaps worse of all is what happens when Jennings tried to recall specific memories. In her “20/20″ interview, Jennings’ speech devolved to stuttering, then complete gibberish.