"He's extraordinary"; Millbury artist with Parkinson's creates art with help of device that steadies tremors
MILLBURY - Overcoming so much to create stunning watercolor paintings. A Central Mass man is making his mark on the art world despite a debilitating disease.
Millbury's Michael Wackell has Parkinson's disease. But is still able to capture the beauty of New England within his art.
After being diagnosed more than a decade ago, Wackell taught himself to paint with his non-dominant hand.
"I bought myself a kids watercolor kit and made a small birthday card for my wife," says Wackell. "And it just took off."
The demand for his artwork has grown so much, the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury hosted a gallery of Wackell's work.
His fans packed inside the historic home to see snowscapes, lighthouses, Halloween and even Tom Brady.
One local woman has even hired Michael to illustrate her children's book.
"I think his colors are amazing," says Allison Hall. "The compositions are fantastic. I just think he's extraordinary."
To keep the Parkinson's at bay, Michael takes a daily cocktail of pills. Plus, he's also part of a study started by a group of MIT graduates. They have given him an experimental device that allows him to steady his shaky right hand.
"My hand becomes steady, my hand opens up as soon as I use this device," says Wackell.
Michael was one of the first patients to try out the wearable device created by Allison Davanzo and her team at Encora Therapeutics.
"We're measuring the waveform of the user's tremor," says Davanzo. "What we do is we're applying that waveform out of phase with the tremor. Essentially canceling out the noise, which is the tremor."
Wackell says it's made a world of difference.
"I remember the first night that they tested it and it immediately worked my wife and kids were in here and everybody started crying. It was that emotional," says Wackell. "I couldn't believe it."
And no matter what comes next, Wackell and his family now painting will always be there for him.
"I'm excited," his mother Joan Wackell tells WBZ. "I'm excited for what art has brought to him in terms of comfort and courage."
Encora Therapeutics hope to have their devices on the market for Essential Tremor and Parkinson's sometime in the near future.
