Describing her life with the condition, Dr. Amanda Piquet, director of the autoimmune neurology program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine Anschutz Medical Campus, provided insights into Celine Dion’s experiences during episodes of illness.
In one scene from the documentary, Dion undergoes a physical therapy session shortly after being filmed recording a new song, “Love Again.” She engages in what appear to be routine exercises with her physical therapist as part of her ongoing efforts to manage her health and potentially return to performing.
However, during the session, she begins to experience cramping in one of her legs. Within moments, her entire body becomes tense to the extent that she is unable to speak, move, or change her facial expression, visibly wincing in pain.
Her doctor then prompts her to squeeze his hand if she can hear him. Although she remains motionless and curled up, she manages to convey her awareness of the situation.
In this scene, Dion is administered a benzodiazepine nasal spray by Dr. Amanda Piquet, which belongs to a class of medications that alleviate anxiety and reduce muscle spasms.
Piquet says, “That anxiety, that panic, that continued spasm that was not breaking then very quickly triggered just a complete whole body spasm.”
“It’s not a seizure,” Piquet clarifies. “This is a spasm that is occurring, and patients are aware of what’s going on. There’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of panic, your adrenaline’s rushing.”
“It was the most extraordinarily uncomfortable moment in my life, as a filmmaker but also as a mother, as a fellow human, because I didn’t know what was happening,” Taylor said to TODAY’s Hoda Kotb.
“I had this uncertainty whether to keep filming or not. But (Céline) gave me the strength to just keep going. We had been filming together for many months at that point, so she had really trained me, ‘Just keep going. If I have to stop you, I’ll stop you.’”
“Her body was enduring something that was unimaginable, and I wasn’t sure if she was aware of it,” Taylor continued. “I wasn’t sure if she was going to survive it. It’s really hard to even sit next to her and talk out loud about it because it was very intense.”
