To those who knew Katerina Brandt, her swift change from healthy to bedridden came as a shock. Katerina was a star student at USC, and one class away from graduating when she was forced to withdraw on medical leave. What they first thought was severe bronchitis eventually led to the indefinite loss of her voice. Her condition was only getting worse.

Katerina and her family were left confused in the face of an undiagnosed immune disorder, desperate to find out what was going on. This mysterious illness not only changed the course of her life, but the lives of her entire family — her two younger sisters, who were also students, and her mother Kathryn, a single working parent.

As Katerina’s conditions grew more severe, Kathryn reached out to her small group. In her family’s hour of crisis, her small group asked a question that would change everything: “How can we help?”