AdvertisementA Couple's Quest To Stop A Rare Disease Before It Takes One Of ThemJune 19, 2017Rae Ellen BichellfacebookEmailSonia Vallabh lost her mother to a rare brain disease in 2010, and then learned she had inherited the same genetic mutation. She and her husband, Eric Minikel, went back to school to study the family of illnesses — prion diseases — in the hope of finding a cure for Sonia. (Kayana Szymczak for NPR)