Visit spurs worry about girls with tics

LEROY, N.Y. (WIVB) - At the beginning of the year, 18 girls from LeRoy received national attention when they began having mysterious tic-like symptoms.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is returning to the Genesee County town next week to announce results of testing her team completed. The girls are doing quite well, and one of their doctors worries Brockovich's visit could jar their otherwise notable recovery.

MORE | See full coverage of this story

Thera Sanchez, who suffered from the symptoms, said, "I'm doing great. I'm doing really good."

Sanchez is one of the 18 of mostly teenage girls, who had developed uncontrollable twitches and tics in the LeRoy area. She was among those who received antibiotics. Others received intense counseling.

News 4 is told all who developed the first reported symptoms as early as last September have greatly improved.

Sanchez says she is symptom-free and "living on my own and having a good time, having a great summer."

Dr. Jennifer McVige of the Dent Neurologic Institute counseled a dozen of the girls, treating them for mass psychogenic illness, meaning that out of empathy, they took on the symptoms of three other teenage girls who were known to have tic disorders. She says when media coverage died down, her patients got better.

"The symptoms with my patients began to subside as soon as we stopped seeing any of the children appearing on television, as soon as the news reports dwindled," Dr. McVige noted.

Environmental tests around the Junior Senior High School concluded "no adverse health impacts."

MORE | Find the results of those tests here

But news that environmental activist Erin Brockovich is coming back to LeRoy next Wednesday is raising concern about about the health of the teens.

Dr. McVige said, "They worked to be better and they are better and stronger and incredible individuals, and I'd hate to see anything happen to them, to put them backwards and jeopardize all we worked for."

But Sanchez doesn't feel threatened by the visit.

"I'm excited," Sanchez said. "I'd like to see what she has to say and what she's looking into."