Emily Willis is being cared for at home in Mexico. The lawsuit her mother brought has been settled. And her family says she is aware of what is happening around her, and answers with her eyes and by shaking her head.
A lot has been written about her that isn’t true. What follows is what’s actually on the record — and who said it.
Updated September 2026
What happened to Emily Willis?
Willis, born Litzy Lara Banuelos, was admitted to Summit Malibu, a private treatment facility, on 27 January 2024. She was 25. Court filings described heavy ketamine use and a number of accompanying conditions.
On 4 February 2024 — about a week after she arrived — she was found unresponsive in her room. CPR was performed for roughly thirty to forty minutes before her heartbeat came back. The oxygen deprivation caused an anoxic brain injury.
She was in a coma for around two months. By April 2024 her family said she had come out of it, but couldn’t move or speak. She could follow objects with her eyes.
What is Emily Willis’s condition now?
Her mother, Yesenia Lara Cooper, spoke to TMZ on 30 July 2026. She said Willis is not verbal, but communicates with her eyes and by shaking her head, and that she understands about 80 per cent of what’s going on around her.
“Improving, getting better day by day,” is how she put it. Willis can sleep unaided now. She can watch television. She’s relearning to walk. She still needs help to eat.
Those are her mother’s words and her mother’s assessment. No clinical confirmation of any of it has been published, and it matters to say so.
In September 2026 the family told the Daily Mail they believe she’s aware of her own situation, and described her showing frustration.
Does Emily Willis have locked-in syndrome?
The phrase has been used by her attorney and her family, and repeated widely since. It has never been confirmed as a formal diagnosis by any published clinical source — so it shouldn’t be reported as one, however often you’ve seen it.
What happened with the lawsuit?
In December 2024 her mother sued Summit Malibu and its parent company, alleging professional negligence, abuse of a dependent adult and fraudulent business practices.
The defendants denied wrongdoing. They argued that Willis had repeatedly refused a recommended transfer to urgent care before the incident, and they admitted no liability.
A $3 million settlement was reached ahead of a trial listed for May 2026, and approved on 15 July 2026 by Judge Susan Bryant-Deason at Santa Monica Superior Court. After attorney fees and medical liens, Willis receives roughly $1.25 million. Her mother remains her conservator and manages the funds.
Where is Emily Willis now, and who is caring for her?
At home in Mexico, with round-the-clock nursing.
Her mother has cited both cost and access to therapies the family couldn’t get in the United States. She’s said they hope to travel to Spain for neurological treatment aimed at stimulating speech and movement — though that’s a hope at this stage, not a scheduled procedure.
Willis has had more than ten operations since 2024.
How old is Emily Willis?
She was born in 1999 in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina, and was 25 at the time of the cardiac arrest.
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