Season five of Nobody Should Believe Me tells the story of Sophie Hartman: a young, white midwestern evangelical missionary who travels to Zambia and comes home with two vulnerable sisters in her care. When she returns to the states, she lands far away from her family in Seattle, WA where she embarks on a medical odyssey with her younger daughter, C, reporting a variety of alarming symptoms: from chronic vomiting, to seizures, to days-long episodes of full-body paralysis. Eventually, C is diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood. Sophie weaves a tale of a child who could “leave us anytime” and uses the child’s illness to fundraise tens of thousands of dollars for special equipment and medical expenses, takes C on a Make-A-Wish trip, posts constantly about her family’s plight on her prolific social media accounts, and even writes a memoir about the story of her journey to adopt her. But is Sophie really the heroic mother of a sick child, or is she the ultimate unreliable narrator? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What story are we covering this season?
True Story Media. This season on Nobody Should Believe Me, we're covering a story that happened right in my own backyard.
Chapter 2: Who is Sophie Hartman and what is her background?
There's a family in Renton that I want to introduce you to. Mom, Sophie, went on an inspiring trip to Zambia in her college years. She's since adopted two girls. One of them has an incredibly rare disorder. Doctors say it's a one in a million chance.
Chapter 3: What happened to Sophie Hartman's family in 2021?
Sophie Hartman's family was in the spotlight in 2019 as she fundraised on behalf of her supposedly sick child. But in the spring of 2021, it all came crashing down.
So this is Detective Warwick with the Renton Police Department. Can you just state your name for me? Sophie Hartman.
Chapter 4: What are the allegations against Sophie Hartman?
In 2019, King 5 first met Sophie Hartman after she adopted two sisters from Zambia. She told us one has a rare neurological disorder called alternating hemiplegia of childhood, or AHC. Today, she faces second-degree assault charges against a child, her own daughter.
Chapter 5: What is Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood?
If she wasn't guilty of these allegations, how horrific. I mean, she seems like a saint.
Supposedly has this very rare progressive disease, but from my observations, she's like the healthiest kid I've ever seen in my life.
Chapter 6: Is AHC really a terminal disease?
Would it surprise you if I told you that AHC is not a terminal disease? Yes, it would.
And we as Haven Church got the opportunity to support her and hold her up with our prayers and doing whatever we could to help her to get through that situation.
She allegedly had this journal entry that talked about how she had an issue with lying.
Every time I go in, like, to the doctor, she wouldn't be exhibiting those symptoms. I'm like, I know this sounds crazy, but I'm not making this up. This is not, this is not.
Yeah, well, you're the mom.
Yeah.
Did you ever witness having what Sophie calls one of her episodes? I did not.
I think that all of the signs and symptoms are here for that. It's obviously a concern that she's pushing this child towards death.
Season 5 of Nobody Should Believe Me starts January 2nd. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
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