Hand tremors made everyday tasks nearly impossible. Innovative surgery developed in Chicago stopped them. "It's almost like a miracle"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A suburban man is making music again with help from some high-tech surgery. Music instructor Matt O'Brien's transformation has been remarkable.
O'Brien struggles to do what he loves best – play his guitar. What's stopping him? O'Brien suffers from a movement disorder called essential tremor – involuntary shaking that makes even the smallest tasks nearly impossible.
"It's like I'm trying to relax myself as much as possible," he said of his efforts to control the tremors.
But simply relaxing didn't stop O'Brien's tremors. What did is a procedure called "deep brain stimulation."
It all starts in O'Brien's head.
"There are two very small wires that go into the brain through the skull," said Dr. Sepher Sani, a neurosurgeon at Rush University Medical Center.
The wires are placed in a specific location that generates the patient's tremors.
"The tip of the wire in the brain actually sends a sophisticated electrical signal that normalizes the brainwaves and the brain activity," Sani said.
The wires are then tunneled to a rechargeable pacemaker for the brain. It sits in a patient's chest, under the collarbone. It's all controlled by a handheld device.
For O'Brien and many others, it's working.
"The degree of tremor control is 90, 95 sometimes even 98 percent. So it's quite … it's almost like a miracle," Sani said.
O'Brien began having tremors when he was just 4 years old.
"I remember playing with Legos, and I held my hand a certain way, and it started shaking," he said.
Everyday tasks like shaving, eating, or putting in contact lenses got harder and harder over the years.
"I would try to counteract the tremors. So I would tense up," he said. "Psychologically, I was like, 'Is someone gonna see me shake? I don't want anyone to see me shake,'"
Medications provided little relief. O'Brien's girlfriend encouraged him to take the next step, and e couldn't be happier that he did.
"After my initial adjustment, we got in the car, and I was trying to hold in the emotions until I got out of the parking lot. Rhonda was sitting next to me, and I gave her a kiss, and I'm like, 'Wow, I'm not shaking when I'm kissing you,'" O'Brien said. "It was amazing. I mean, it was just … it's just so hard to put into words. I mean, it's like, it's kind of like, 'This is how a person without a tremor operates.' It's just like, "what?""
Dr. Matthew Wodziak, a neurologist at Rush, sees O'Brien every month or so to check his progress, and there's some upkeep involved.
"Once you have the device implanted, there's different batteries that last for different amounts of time," Wodziak said.
O'Brien said he knows he'll always have to monitor his condition, but he said it's a small price to pay.
"Talking about this now is like, it's like I needed this. It's like a reminder of like, 'Wow, I did this in my life,' It's like huge … crazy, mind-blowing," he said. "Because it's like, I'm here now, and it's like I'm just living life"
O'Brien has a YouTube channel that chronicles his journey and offers support and encouragement to others.
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