Often in life, it is more the hard times that define and shape us rather than the good. Jenny Gatehouse knows that better than anyone, as the life of the 45-year-old Ketchum resident has been marked by a series of challenges that would daunt even the stoutest among us.
Gatehouse, the wife of Phil Hebert and the mother of two boys, Sam and Wil, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease seven years ago, right on the heels of finishing chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer. While the diagnosis did not shock her ("I had figured it out on the Internet and was hoping it was a tremor.") she was taken aback by what she considered "an older person's disease."
"I didn't handle it well in the beginning," Gatehouse, a petite blond with striking blue eyes, said. "I just thought, 'I just got over one thing and now I have another.'"
But Gatehouse is quick to point out that she does not wallow in self-pity.
"I don't feel sorry for myself," she said. "I definitely don't walk around thinking I have Parkinson's."
That is easier these days thanks to a groundbreaking surgical procedure. In August 2007 Gatehouse underwent elective deep brain stimulation (DBS) in San Francisco, in which fine wires were threaded through her brain and neck and connected to a device similar to a cardiac pacemaker inserted into her chest. Low-level pulses are sent to the part of her brain that needs stimulation, and for some Parkinson's patients such as Gatehouse, the electrical impulses are enough to help quiet the tremors and symptoms that plague them. The pacemaker or stimulator is adjusted as necessary by a device that resembles a television remote-control device.
"The first thing I noticed is that I was still," Gatehouse said. "To be still is awesome. I look at my legs and they are not shaky, and I just sit there sometimes because I can."
Routine actions that were once dreaded because of her symptoms, Gatehouse now performs with a new appreciation that most of us could not begin to fathom.
"I can tie my kids' shoelaces, which I love to do. My son, Sam, needs his tied five times. He's pretty particular. I can chase my kids. I can catch them. I can roll over in bed," she said. "Before, I was really weak, and it was so hard to do. I felt like a 100-year-old person. I don't feel like that now."
The Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates as many as 1 million Americans suffer from the disease, which is classified as a "movement disorder," that is both chronic and progressive. There is no known cure for the illness, which manifests itself in tremors of the hands, arms, legs or jaw, rigidity or stiffness in the limbs and trunk, slowness of movement, and postural instability or impaired balance and coordination.
Medication is used to offset the disease, and the cost is staggering, both on a personal and public level. The price of prescription medicine averages $2,500 per year for an individual and patients often have to take several medications to help them manage the disease. As well, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates that the U.S. loses nearly $2.5 billion dollars per year for the cost of treatment, social security payments and lost income from inability to work.
Gatehouse considers herself lucky to have been able to undergone DBS and had a successful outcome, as surgery is only effective for a small group of people with Parkinson's and is only recommended if a patient meets certain criteria. To date, only 40,000 people have had the procedure, and while some insurance companies will cover the estimated $100,000 cost, some sufferers are not lucky enough to have the health care necessary to cover the extreme expense.
"It's a remarkable surgery. It makes the quality of life better, but it's not a cure. I still have a disease that progresses," Gatehouse said. "What we need is a cure, not only for Parkinson's, but other diseases as well. I feel like I know a little about suffering with this disease, and how I am today makes me very grateful, yet more anxious for a cure."
Jenny Gatehouse says she is enjoying improved health following deep brain stimulation treatments designed to quell symptoms of Parkinson?s disease.
Photo by Willy Cook
