Twins Sara Eldritch and Amanda Eldritch didn"t just make headlines for their battle with an extreme manifestation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
The two, who battled OCD from childhood well into adulthood, underwent a groundbreaking procedure that, at least for a time, eased their symptoms and allowed them to lead normal lives.
Tragically, the women have both been found dead. Police suspect that they may have had a suicide pact.
The Canon City Daily Record reports that the Eldritch twins were found dead with gunshot wounds.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says that Sara and Amanda were found in a car which was parked at a rest area Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, which is in Canon City.
Sgt. Megan Richards reported that police believe that the sisters may have had a suicide pact.
That is, at the moment, speculation.
What they say with reasonable confidence is that there is no known threat to the community at large.
In the video below, you can see both Sara and Amanda speak about their shared battle with OCD.
Their disorder manifested at a very young age, where even a simple process like putting on their shoes could take a great deal of time because they found, for example, wrinkles in their socks to be unbearable.
Many of us dislike things like that, but for someone with OCD, there is an irresistible compulsion to address what most of us would view as a regrettable source of irritation.
The twins described their OCD as like someone holding a gun to their head and forcing them to go through a task or ritual.
By their twenties, their OCD symptoms had worsened, and they would find themselves taking 10-hour showers, scrubbing their skin raw.
You can also see how their lives improved after they underwent a groundbreaking procedure.
Electrodes were placed within their brains, connected to batteries stored within their chests. Which, yes, sounds like a child"s idea of what surgery might be, but we"re not making it up.
The procedure, normally used for Parkinson"s, allowed them to manage their anxieties.
They came to feel as if their younger, OCD-ridden selves were almost different people. In some ways, they were.
The twins were able to go on and get jobs and function in everyday life. For a time, at least.
It"s heartbreaking to think that they died just a few years later.
Though a number of treatments for OCD exist and work to varying degrees, there is no "magic pill" for these compulsions.
In fact, OCD is not really well understood.
There is evidence for a genetic component to OCD. Both anecdotally and statistically, the odds of having OCD are higher if a relative has it.
In other cases, OCD can arise from traumatic situations such as abuse.
There are even controversial theories that there is an autoimmune element at play in OCD.
Their mother must be feeling so devastated.
Some wonder if the procedure that had given the twins so much freedom back in 2015 had tragically stopped working.
If so, that would compound the sadness. Especially if they chose to die rather than return to how their lives once were.
But, at the moment, so much of this is just speculation.
Hopefully, investigators will uncover a concrete, verifiable explanation for how this tragedy came to pass.
In the mean time, let"s look at the twins when they were happily explaining how their lives had improved.
