KABC Eyewitness News Features Narcolepsy with Story from Rising Voices Speaker Maha Awad

Project Sleep is thrilled to celebrate Rising Voices speaker Maha Awad, who was featured on KABC Eyewitness News in Los Angeles on March 31, 2026. In the segment, Maha shared about her decades-long journey with type 2 narcolepsy without cataplexy, helping viewers better understand this often-misunderstood neurological condition.

As an Arab-American TV host, producer, and voice actor, Maha has spent more than 20 years in front of and behind the camera. Yet for much of her life, she quietly struggled with excessive daytime sleepiness — symptoms that began as early as high school. Like many people with narcolepsy, Maha went nearly three decades without a diagnosis, navigating school, work, and daily life without answers.

How Narcolepsy Misconceptions Can Delay Diagnosis

In her KABC interview, Maha emphasizes the impact of inaccurate media portrayals of narcolepsy and shared how it made it harder for her to find an answer. In reference to the 1999 movie Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo where in one scene a person with narcolepsy falls asleep into a bowl of soup, Maha says, “When you see that, you think ‘I don’t fall asleep in a bowl of soup, that can’t be me.’”

Dr. Sam Kashani, UCLA board-certified sleep specialist and Project Sleep Expert Advisory Board member, was also interviewed. “I think sleep disorders are tremendously underdiagnosed,” he stated. Dr. Kashani says sleep disorders are also commonly misdiagnosed, with depression and chronic fatigue syndrome being two of the top offenders.

Why Stories Like Maha’s Matter

Narcolepsy remains widely misunderstood, and stigma continues to affect people’s lives, from school to the workplace to healthcare settings. Personal stories like Maha’s help shift public perception and educate on the real signs and symptoms of sleep disorders.

We are so grateful to Maha for using her voice to educate the public and uplift others living with sleep disorders and to KABC Eyewitness News for covering her story. Help us amplify Maha’s story by sharing it with friends, family, and your community to raise awareness of narcolepsy and support Project Sleep’s mission to make sleep a public health priority!

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