DENVER — In the more than two years since she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, Celine Dion has worked with a Colorado doctor and her team to overcome the rare and chronic disease.
Dr. Amanda Piquet, an University of Colorado associate professor of neurology, has treated Dion's stiff person syndrome, or SPS, for two years at CU Anschutz.
NBC will air Hoda Kotb's exclusive interview with Dion in a prime time special at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Ahead of that interview, Piquet will speak with 9NEWS at 4 p.m. about SPS therapies and treatments, and the hopes for a cure.
Piquet is the director of the autoimmune neurology program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
SPS is a rare, chronic and progressive autoimmune neurologic disease that currently has no cure, CU Anschutz said, which is one of only a few health science campuses in the U.S. focused on SPS research.
Dion announced her SPS diagnosis in December 2022 in an Instagram video, describing "severe and persistent muscle spasms" that forced her to cancel her tour. A documentary premiering on Amazon Prime later this month, called "I Am: Celine Dion," will go into more detail on Dion's condition.
In an interview before the documentary's release, Piquet said Dion "is improved and overall making progress," according to CU Anschutz.
SPS disproportionately affects women, with about 60% to 70% of cases, and the median age of onset is 50. The disease can be life-threatening if left untreated.
"It can be very disabling," Piquet said. "I think sometimes part of that might just be due to how long patients suffered from symptoms before they were put on immune therapy. We don't have good studies saying patients that were initiated on therapy early have less disability."
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Health
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and The Culture Report, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.