SOUTH BEND — Jadin O’Brien’s Olympic journey has been incredible … and not just because she got on a bobsled for the first time three months ago.
If she were to make the U.S. Olympic team, it would be in the heptathlon, a seven-event track and field event made famous by Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Instead, O’Brien led the bobsled team to the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Milan.
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The 23-year-old Notre Dame graduate has overcome injuries to various parts of her body, including once nearly having a titanium rod inserted into her leg.
However, it was her soul that was most obviously healed.
March 8, 2024; Boston, MA, USA; Notre Dame’s Jadin O’Brien (left) and Texas State’s Kristine Blazevica compete in the 800m pentathlon during the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at The Track by New Balance. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
She overcame a mysterious disease called PANDAS—a pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with strep throat.
This is a rare condition, not yet universally recognized, in which children develop neuropsychiatric symptoms following streptococcal infection. This infection, commonly known as strep, affects the throat and tonsils, but can also spread elsewhere and cause serious complications.
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No one knew what was wrong with little Jardine. Not a psychiatrist or doctor. Not parents, not siblings. Not a teacher, not a friend. Not even an exorcist.
Jardine’s symptoms began to worsen between the ages of 5 and 10, until her parents finally found a doctor willing to treat their daughter holistically.
Streptococci are eliminated. Jardine is back.
“When the light comes back to my eyes, I’ll describe it,” she said. “I was able to look at life, be interested in things, smile with people, talk to people, really think, and not be afraid of absolutely everything.”
At the Winter Olympics, she will push a sled driven by five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, who is making her fifth Team USA appearance and has medaled in each of her previous four appearances. The four games are scheduled for February 20-21.
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Other U.S. track and field women have also won global medals in bobsled, notably hurdler Lolo Jones and sprinter Lauren Williams.
In O’Brien’s World Cup debut in Sigurda, Latvia, she and Meyers Taylor finished fourth. Therefore, winning an Olympic medal is not impossible.
O’Brien was born in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, the second of seven children born to Kevin and Leslie (Moorman) O’Brien. This is a sports family. Younger sister Caitlyn won the NAIA long jump title just days before Jadin won her third NCAA indoor pentathlon title.
The parents met at Bowling Green University. Her father was a linebacker who signed with several NFL teams and played in the World League and Canadian Football League. Her mother, who belongs to the Ohio Track and Field Hall of Fame, won four state titles during an undefeated career in the 300-meter hurdles.
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O’Brien ranked fourth in the world in the pentathlon last year and was nearly good enough for a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships.
After high school, she might be recruited to play basketball, lead her high school team to the Wisconsin Final Four, or compete in soccer.
She contracted strep throat as a child. Symptoms of PANDAS – obsessive-compulsive disorder, tics, depression, sleep disorders, motor or sensory problems – began in her as early as age 5. Ideas about death often arise before children know what death is.
“Fear is a constant feeling that I feel every day,” she said. “I mean, as a kid, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Every aspect of my life was filled with fear.”
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She was taken to Father Cliff Emattinger, a priest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and an exorcist. He prayed for her.
“Nothing happened,” Jardine added, “because I wasn’t possessed.”
A teacher at Trinity Academy, her elementary school in Pewaukee, told the family that a friend’s son had similar symptoms. A holistic doctor tested the girl for strep. Strep isn’t just there, it’s everywhere, Jardine said.
“Liver, bladder and bowel,” she said.
Gut health impacts mental health. Antibiotics and natural treatments killed the strep bacteria within eight weeks, the mother said.
O’Brien said she can’t pinpoint a specific moment when she felt normal. This is gradual.
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“My whole life, really, I’ve been overcoming obstacles,” she said. “Overcoming things that should have stopped me but didn’t actually gave me motivation.”
Jardine said respondents on social media thanked her after disclosing the panda’s trauma. For someone who describes herself as “rock solid,” this is a weakness she doesn’t usually show. She said she doesn’t often dwell on that period of her life because she doesn’t know what to expect.
“I thought if I really unpacked what happened and looked at how it affects my life now, I would find something interesting,” she said. “But I guess I look at it now like something good came out of it.
“I would say the resilience part, the story, being the witness, being the hope for people.”
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Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on X: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared in The Indianapolis Star: Jadin O’Brien becomes Olympic bobsledder after battling PANDAS
