Thread by @AndreaCohenHaim

A brief review of what was simultaneously the best and one of the worst years of my life since my husband @EithanHaim was targeted by the DOJ for blowing the whistle on Texas Children’s Hospital’s secret transgender program.

Hard to believe it all happened in 2024.🧵(1/6)

(2/6) BEST: It has been the privilege of a lifetime to stand up for children and the whistleblowers who protect them.

Eithan began 2024 by taking his story public when he was under investigation. He exposed what happened to kids at Texas Children’s and the consequences he faced for blowing the whistle.

We’ve defied odds and won huge victories against a malicious federal prosecution intended to silence Eithan and punish him for exposing the truth.

We saw the very best of humanity and experienced an outpouring of support that I would have never thought possible. I can never express what it means to us that so many have given their platforms, money, prayers, and support.

And most importantly, our beautiful daughter Talia was born in September, right in the middle of the storm. She gave us the strength to keep fighting, because we knew it was all to create a better world for her.

(3/6) WORST: But this year was hard. The day Eithan was indicted, 3 heavily armed US Marshals showed up at our house at 7am. I was 6 months pregnant and we had just moved into a new house 2 days before.

We drove to Houston a few days later for his arraignment where he plead not guilty to felony charges that carried up to 10 years in federal prison.

Also present in the courtroom were accused drug traffickers, child pornographers, and others in orange jumpsuits and chains. A chilling reminder of what Eithan was facing.

Unlike most defendants, we literally didn’t understand what crime he was even accused of. 10 years for “accessing” HIPAA information? When he was a doctor who had access to those records because he was treating patients? It didn’t make sense. There was no precedent for it.

(4/6) The day Talia was born, I had an emergency C-section. Eithan stayed with me through surgery and held the baby for about an hour before he had no choice but to go to Houston.

He had a court appearance the next day while Talia and I recovered in the hospital.

All the love and happiness I felt that day was marred by fear for the future and anger at what the prosecutors put us through. I will never forget it.

(5/6) Over the next few months, we learned that the government ignored key exonerating evidence and invented new HIPAA law.

Their indictments were thrown out *twice* - first because the evidence contradicted their entire theory of the case, and second because of serious legal errors including typos and adding language not in the statute.

But still, the DOJ dug in. We then learned that lead prosecutor who tormented my family for over a year, who at one time was prosecuting Eithan without a valid law license, had serious financial and personal conflicts with Texas Children’s.

(6/6) But just as these conflicts were coming to light, and just as the DOJ was getting hosed in court because of their embarrassingly defective indictments — they moved for a gag order and the judge sort of imposes one.

It is oddly fitting that an egregious limitation of his first amendment rights topped off a year that began with Eithan bravely going public in his own defense.

I don’t know what 2025 will bring, but I’m hopeful for a brighter tomorrow. Thank you to all who have supported us this year. May we all find peace in the new year.