Parkinson's Patient: 'I Was Free'
The dramatic results of deep brain stimulation changed one woman's life.
June 25, 2008— -- Mary Kane won't let Parkinson's disease stand in her way.
"I move hay. I move 50 pound bags of feed. I fix fences," she said. "I chainsaw down trees!"
So when her symptoms become resistant to the medication she has been taking for 16 years, she went to Johns Hopkins Hospital to have her brain surgically re-wired.
Watch the series premiere of "Hopkins" Thursday, June 26, at 10 p.m. ET. CLICK HERE for behind the scenes videos, doctor profiles and patient updates.
Parkinson's is a degenerative neurological disease. Some of the symptoms, which vary from patient to patient, are caused by a deficiency of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that delivers messages from brain cells that regulate many body functions. When there is not enough, patients experience involuntary movement. Tremors, slowness of movement, and rigidity are all common symptoms of the disease, which is why Parkinson's is classified as a movement disorder.
There is no single diagnostic test to determine if a patient has Parkinson's, and people like Kane are often misdiagnosed.
"I tell everyone I was diagnosed by my vet," Kane, a recreational equestrian, said.
After riding in a horse race in 1991, Kane was shaking. Some of her friends attributed the tremor to stress, but a veterinarian suggested she might have Parkinson's. Almost a year later, after being told she has ALS, and multiple sclerosis, Kane was correctly diagnosed with Parkinson's — this time by a physician.
Parkinson's is a degenerative condition, and for Kane, who is 57 years old, mercifully slow-moving. She credits her active lifestyle with her relatively good health, but her worsening symptoms make it hard for her to care for her two horses and her Russian wolfhound. After consulting with her neurologists in Tennessee, Kane traveled to Johns Hopkins Hospital for the ultimate treatment.
An ABC News team followed Kane's story while filming at Johns Hopkins for the "Hopkins" series. As she waited in her hospital room the day before surgery, Kane's pronounced symptoms could no longer be mistaken for anxiety.
Related Stories
ABC News Live