KENNEBUNKPORT — When Beth Maloney’s son began demonstrating bizarre obsessive compulsive behavior in the summer of 2002, she had no idea the experience would lead her to write a successful novel, shining a light on a virtually unknown illness that affects thousands.

Maloney crafted the novel “Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD,” published in 2009, as a medium for spreading the word about her son Sammy’s experience with pediatric auto-immune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococci ”“ otherwise known as PANDAS.

“He would walk around the house with his eyes shut, wouldn’t use the front door, and the obsessions became cumulative,” said Maloney, an attorney, about Sammy’s quick descent into developing OCD at the age of 12.

PANDAS produces antibodies in the body to fight a strep infection that can attack the brain in some patients, triggering a sudden onset of behavioral disorders, such as OCD or Tourette syndrome, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

After two years of dealing with the illness and searching for treatment, Maloney found it could be cured, and in the case of Sammy, through years of extended-release Augmentin antibiotic medicine.

“He wasn’t a kid who had issues, he was well-known and very gifted,” Maloney said of Sammy, who is now 21 and a junior at Carnegie Mellon University, planning to earn his doctorate in mathematics within four years.

During his time suffering from PANDAS, Sammy would request his mother to carry food to him in a certain way, walk around in an upside down L formation and only sit in specific chairs, among many other compulsions.

“At one point, we had to live with the lights on 24/7 because he wouldn’t let us turn them off,” Maloney said.

The compulsions became so immense that Sammy wasn’t able to attend school, missing all of sixth and seventh grade.

According to the NIMH, clinicians diagnose patients with PANDAS through five criteria: The presence of an obsessive compulsive disorder/tic; a pediatric onset of symptoms; episodic course of symptom severity; a strep infection; and neurological abnormalities, such as motoric hyperactivity or adventitious movements.

Doctors misdiagnosing Sammy and prescribing medications that had only temporary results drove Maloney to search for what was really wrong with him. When a co-worker of her mother suggested his problems could be coming from a strep infection, Maloney took her son to have his blood tested.

Her mother’s colleague turned out to be right.

Although Sammy was put back on Augmentin a few times over the years after exposure to strep infection outbreaks through classmates, he is now cured of PANDAS and no longer has any symptoms.

Since Sammy’s recovery, Maloney and her son have been featured on numerous talk shows including “The Today Show,” being interviewed by Matt Lauer, “The Bonnie Hunt Show” and as of September, “The Doctors,” which aired Thursday.

Maloney said talk show guests have a limited amount of time to get their points across, but can reach a large audience ”“ in the case of “The Doctors,” 14 million viewers ”“ so that the time needs to be used productively.

As a lawyer for members of the entertainment industry, once working for “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, Maloney has learned how effective television can be. In addition, she knew her book needed to be easily accessible to a large population if she ever wanted to bring the advancement of PANDAS research to the forefront.

“It’s beyond coincidence,” said Maloney of her opportunity to speak to millions, the fact she’s a lawyer and had connections to the entertainment business, and got her book published ”“ to her, it’s all signs of a higher power at work.

Looking back on her and her son’s years spent living with PANDAS, Maloney said she and Sammy can feel a little better about it, knowing their struggles led to them sharing their story to help others.

“It was the most traumatic period of my life, but we’re okay with it now,” said Maloney.

For more information about Maloney’s novel, “Saving Sammy,” visit www.savingsammy.net or to learn about PANDAS, go to www.pandasnetwork.org.

— Staff Writer Matt Kiernan can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 326 or mkiernan@journaltribune.com.