Thirteen years ago, Liz Ontiveroz from Laramie, Wyo., was busy with work, taking care of her two children and pregnant with her third child. Like most pregnant women, she was tired and sore. But Ontiveroz's belly wasn't the only part of her body that was expanding – her neck also was painfully swollen.

"I went to my doctor because my neck hurt so badly," Ontiveroz says. "The doctor found traces of protein in my urine, but nothing else."

Finding no diagnosis or treatment from her doctor, she went to the chiropractor. "I was crying because the pain was so intense," Ontiveroz says. "They took my blood pressure, but the machine couldn't get a reading, so they assumed it was broken. I had my neck adjusted, but afterward it still hurt terribly."

What Ontiveroz didn't know was that her blood pressure was off the charts – so high the chiropractor couldn't obtain a reading. She should have been raced to the emergency room, but instead this mom returned home for the weekend not knowing how serious things were. On Saturday she began bleeding and was rushed to the hospital. It was there Ontiveroz's blood pressure was finally correctly taken. The number had skyrocketed: This mother was suffering from toxemia.

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