Nine-time All-American. Three-time NCAA pentathlon champion. ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year—twice. Olympic Trials qualifier—twice. The medals stack like chapters in a book, but they don’t tell the full story of this track and field star. They don’t tell you about the girl who sat silently in a doctor’s office while grown-ups whispered. Who scribbled prayers in her notebook because she thought demons were crawling under her skin? She convinced herself that if she died, her family members might live. Because no one could explain what was happening to that little girl. How does a kid even carry that? It is a story of Jadin O’Brien, pentathlete, whose medals now glint under arena lights! But her childhood was nothing like that.

Well, she had it. But it took a village and a lot of divine nudges for anyone to finally see the truth behind the torment. Jadin O’Brien wasn’t possessed by evil. She was battling a medical condition few had heard of and even fewer understood: PANDAS—Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. According to the Cleveland Clinic, PANDAS describes a sudden onset of OCD-like behavior, tics, anxiety, and neurological symptoms in children after a strep infection.

There’s no definitive test, only a constellation of symptoms. “They thought I needed an exorcist,” Jadin said to DYESTAT, recounting the surreal moment Father Cliff Ermatinger prayed over her in Milwaukee. “But nothing happened. Because I wasn’t possessed.” If one has already read those symptoms, it is difficult to imagine what that little girl went through. obsessive thoughts.

Severe emotional swings. Fears one can’t name—these are the things that can give nightmares to even an adult. In her case, while we can’t pinpoint the symptoms, they were such that the family even sought spiritual answers. A priest prayed over her. A psychiatrist even spoke of witches. “That didn’t feel right at all,” said her mother, Caitlyn. Her journey back to knowing began with a conversation at Jadin’s small school, Trinity Academy.

A teacher connected them to a family with similar experiences. A holistic doctor ran a full-body screen, not just a throat swab. “The strep was everywhere,” Jadin said. “Liver, bladder, gut’ That lined up with what researchers suspect: in some kids, antibodies created to fight strep mistakenly attack brain tissue, triggering psychiatric symptoms.

Gut health, too, affects mental stability. Eight weeks of antibiotics and natural treatments followed. Slowly, the symptoms faded. The turning point came at a father-daughter dance near Jadin’s 11th birthday. She laughed. She danced. Her spark had returned. “Before, it was like she had no soul,” Caitlyn said. “That night, we saw the real Jadin again.”

PANDAS may remain a controversial diagnosis with no definitive cure, but for one family in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, putting a name to the nightmare was the first step toward healing. And for Jadin, who once believed her suffering might save her family, just being able to smile again was the miracle.

How track and field changed Jadin O’Brien’s life

You wouldn’t believe it if you saw her now. Just a few years ago, Jadin O’Brien was fighting a silent war inside her own body and mind. But the girl was once plagued by something no one could explain. She turned into a collegiate star for Notre Dame in track and field, breaking records for fun. In 2021, she finished 12th at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the heptathlon.

That same fire carried her to the 2023 NCAA Indoor pentathlon title, and later that year, gold at the NACAC U23 Championships. Her momentum was building until a stress fracture in her shin halted her 2023 outdoor season. But Jadin didn’t pause; reset. In 2024, she came roaring back, defending her NCAA Indoor title and breaking the Notre Dame school record in the heptathlon with a stunning 6115-point performance.

That June, she took silver at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a personal-best 6234 points, second only to national standout Timara Chapman. A few weeks later, she placed seventh at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Not bad for someone still battling injury the season before. Then came history: in March 2025, Jadin claimed her third straight NCAA Indoor pentathlon title, scoring a career-best 4596 points, becoming the first woman to three-peat since Kendell Williams.