Yes, Sandy was her caregiver for four years before Sandy moved to Houston. I couldn’t get over how Sandy pushed the idea of her coming there to be Dr. Now’s patient. “But where would I stay?” Of course she’d stay at Sandy’s. Sandy made all the arrangements and was pretty relentless in her arguments that it was what Cindy needed to do although Cindy repeatedly expressed no desire to be in the program. Even when the ambulance was waiting at the door, Sandy continued to hound a reluctant Cindy to go. The camera crew was filming and there would be no more episodes if Cindy backed out now. (Okay, Cindy couldn’t really back out of anything, I mean it figuratively)
I'm convinced Sandy was just doing it for the caretaker and TLC money for her family, to get on TV, and like a poster said above, she thought she would look like a hero.