An empath would receive the feelings of the person regardless of "living through it" or not. For instance, a true empath who goes to places of great pain/sorrow/horror like concentration camps or ground zero will feel the intense emotions of those people. So, to me, to claim to be an empath, and have all these other abilities as well, would mean you are going to feel it regardless. Maybe she is just able to put all her other abilities aside and can sort them out.
