Jeni Stepanek is the mother of Mattie Stepanek, the
New York Times bestselling author and humanitarian, who passed away in 2004 to Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy. Jeni lost three other children to that same neuromuscular disease and has the adult-onset form herself. She holds a doctorate in early childhood special education and is an award-winning speaker. She lives in Rockville, Maryland.