both thompson and sharon kowalski's father, donald kowalski, petitioned to be named sharon kowalski's legal guardian in march 1984. with the understanding that she would have visitation rights, thompson agreed that donald kowalski would be named sharon kowalski's guardian. the court's guardianship order, issued in july 1985, gave donald complete control over visitation. on july 25, 1985, donald cut off thompson's visitation rights and moved sharon from a nursing home near thompson's home to one a five-hour drive away. thompson appealed the order, but the appellate court initially affirmed the order, citing testimony by sharon's family and nursing home staff that sharon seemed depressed and sad after her visits with thompson and postulating that it would be in kowalski's best interest to discontinue thompson's visits. in a letter to the court, the kowalski's family physician wrote: "visits by karen thompson at this time would expose sharon kowalski to a high risk of sexual abuse." donald kowalski told an interviewer: "karen thompson kicked herself out of there by being so aggressive and by driving sharon into a deep depression. she told sharon she was being held prisoner, that she was in a dangerous environment. if you couldn't talk and you were lying there, wouldn't that put you in a depression?" he denied his daughter was a lesbian.