“In class, if I were to stand up, then I would be like, ‘I have to go to the nurse. I can’t do this.’ Or I’ll be in PE, and I’ll be like, ‘I have to go to the nurse,’” she recalled, saying she would have to leave class “multiple times a day” only to be told by the school nurse that it was “probably just anxiety”.

“I genuinely felt so sick, and I was in a lot of pain, and them not doing anything about it definitely hurt me physically and emotionally. Because I was just like, ‘This is rude. I feel sick and you’re telling me to go to PE and run laps around the football field. I can’t do that.’”

Applegate admitted that initially she didn’t take her daughter’s symptoms seriously because at home Sadie appeared “fine”.

“She wears layers of clothes on 90-degree days and she hates PE — ‘Sorry, school, not a big fan of PE or physical things,’” the Dead to Me actress said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I kind of felt that way too.’ I feel so horrible that we didn’t pay attention to it.”

But then Applegate compared it to her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis and realized the “stresses and the anxiety of the world bring upon our symptoms much worse than they would be if we were in the safety and the coolness of our own homes.”

Despite the chronic disorder that has no cure, Sadie said it’s helped her understand her mother’s condition better.

“If I didn’t have this, I probably would be like, ‘I don’t really care. I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Sadie said. “I actually have tremors from POTS. Like, I’m shaking right now, but it’s definitely a lot easier to understand what she’s going through when I have something I’m going through as well.”

For Applegate, who was diagnosed with MS in 2021, though it breaks her heart to see her daughter struggle with a chronic illness.

“I hate it for you, my darling. I really hate it for you,” she said. “I’m sad. But I love you, and I know you’re going to be okay. And I’m here for you and I believe you.”