At the age of 35, Todd Murfitt from Adelaide, Australia, was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s. Two years later, his symptoms worsened and he started having tremors.
One day, while at work in St John, the Baptist Primary School in Plympton, in the south of Adelaide, he experienced a strong tremor. He works there as the school’s principal. His left hand began to shake strongly. He knew he needed to talk with a doctor.
Shocked at His Doctor’s Appointment
When he came to his neurologist appointment and sat down with his doctor, he was surprised to hear that he has early onset Parkinson’s.
The symptoms he was struggling with were internal tremors as a result of loss of motor control and external physical tremors. He recalls how surreal the diagnosis seemed to him and how shocked he was.
Brain Surgery while Awake?
At the beginning, he was managing the disease with the meds; however, they stopped working. The illness progressed very fast in two years and so his doctors recommended deep brain stimulation or brain surgery while the patient is awake.
His community, family, and friends collected more than $40,000 for the expensive procedure which can help decrease the symptoms for decades. Several days before the procedure, he needed to shave his head.
To show them their support, his three brothers and his niece shaved their heads too, in front of all the other kids in the school where he is the principal!
He recalls that though it may not sound like a big thing, this meant so much to him.
Success with a New Technology
Rob Wilcox, a neurologist, compared the procedure with a ‘pacemaker for the brain’. Though this is not a cure, it’s a type of treatment in which electrodes are placed in the brain and a chip is implanted in the chest.
Even though it’s quite challenging for the patient to be awake, it’s beneficial because they get first-hand information about what’s happening in their body. Namely, the patient tells the surgeons if there are any sensations and thus, the team can easily locate them in the brain.
This new surgery tech which was used for the first time is based on directional wires, rather than the ring system. This was possible thanks to his young age and gives the doctors an opportunity to monitor and change the electrical fields.
The steerable leads enable precision in the controlling of the range, shape, direction and position of the electrical stimulation to different brain areas.
The distinction is the ring which has been divided into three sections and allows for electricity to be pushed forward or to the side, out or to the side and in or in both sides.
As our brain shrinks as we age, these wires can be changed as the patient ages.
The Future of Deep Brain Stimulation
According to Dr Wilcox, there are already experimental groups that are working on this tech and make it even better.
Murfitt explains that he was feeling the change while the stimulation was being done. He was surprised because despite of all the pain from needles, he was feeling like he was in a new body. He couldn’t believe it.
While still recovering, he’s already seeing positive changes and he’s no longer reliant on the meds as he was before the procedure. He uses his time to spend it with his daughters and wife.
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