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musician gets a new lease on life after deep brain stimulation for parkinson's disease

deep brain stimulation gives fabio dwyer his hands back, showing how effective it can be for some parkinson's patients.

by angelica bottaro
published apr 22, 2024
read time 5 minute read
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read time 5 minute read
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parkinson's patient fabio dwyer gets a second chance to return to the stage after deep brain stimulation. fabio dwyer // united health network
fabio dwyer was diagnosed with early onset parkinson’s at 40 years old after experiencing tremors and symptoms so bad that he could no longer play his guitar. as a professional musician with formal training at the royal conservatory of music and over three decades of professional music experience, the news felt like a type of living death. “the doctors told me, ‘don’t worry, it’s not a death sentence.’ but in my case, as a musician, it was a death sentence,” he said. “it was not death in the literal sense, but since i am a musician, i never thought i’d be able to play the guitar again properly, and that crushed my soul.”
fabio’s music focus was the blues, and when he relocated to the beaches neighbourhood of toronto from rio de janeiro, brazil, he worked hard to establish himself in the toronto community as a music instructor and performer.

starting over in canada

when fabio relocated to canada, he had to start over from scratch. he used all his savings to create a new life, and after being diagnosed with early-onset parkinson’s, it felt as though his trajectory toward success was halted.
“because i was living in canada for only six or seven years, so already all my life had been, up until i was 35 years old, to immigrate to canada. all my savings were put towards this project, so i was in the process of trying to rebuild and catch up,” he said.

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when fabio decided to rebuild a life in canada, he assumed he had many more years to play with his band, establish his music school, and work toward retirement just like every other canadian. however, when he started to feel the symptoms that made guitar playing impossible, it was as if the years of his life leading up to retirement were stolen from him.
“i was in a situation that wasn’t very good financially. i was at an age that you’re still trying to (build-up), especially as a musician,” he said, later continuing, “i play blues and classic rock musical style of music that nobody gives any credibility to unless you’re a certain age it’s more like a regular career, but at 4 or 5 years, you start to re-establish yourself. that was cut right away, so i think the sad part is that it hits the person in different ways because it takes from life, especially in my case because of my music.”

becoming a candidate for deep brain stimulation (dbs)

dbs is a type of neuromodulation that works by surgically implanting electrodes into a person’s brain, which are then controlled by an external device. the electrodes are placed in specific areas so that the brain can be rewired using electrical current in a way that provides symptom relief for people with parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.
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people living with parkinson’s have to qualify for this treatment, and that typically only occurs following treatment resistance to current medication and therapies. while dbs can be effective at restoring motor functions, it is not a cure, nor can it slow the progression of parkinson’s.
like many others outside of the medical industry, fabio had never heard of dbs before, and when he found out he was a candidate, he knew he had to do his own research before jumping on board.
“i didn’t know anything about (it), and more people that don’t have parkinson’s don’t have any idea about dbs unless they see a newspaper or something like that, and i didn’t have any idea that there was a surgical procedure,” he said. “so, i started to do my own research by myself on the internet and through the michael j. fox foundation.”
he continued, “i was worried because i know that there are a lot of false treatments. there’s no cure for parkinson’s yet.”
even after doing research, fabio wasn’t completely sold on dbs. “i became kind of a nerd on the subject because i couldn’t understand or accept (it). i was in denial,” he said. “i knew that i had parkinson’s. i can’t accept, not that i don’t have the disease, but i can’t accept i can have a way out.”
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it wasn’t until fabio worked with his bandmate, a neurology specialist well-versed in dbs, that he saw the treatment’s potential.
“when i first met dr. alfonso fasano, he was a keyboard player in the same band as me nine years ago. i had no idea i had parkinson’s. i had no idea that he was a specialist on dbs,” he said. “i didn’t even know he was a neurologist. then, i found out he was a doctor and started to go to toronto western to see him.”
he talks about keeping in touch with dr. fasano over the years on facebook and working with him on his parkinson’s care. that partnership changed things for fabio in a very real and very positive way.

life-changing dbs treatment

for fabio, who qualified for dbs through the university health network’s krembil brain institute in toronto, on, the surgical and treatment processes were difficult initially, leading to a wait-and-see process that required fabio to be patient with results.
“i had 11 programming sessions, and i was done with the surgery and had to wait for one and half months until the brain and swelling gets back to normal size and then they start to control the current,” he said. “they started to run the current the first day. i felt nausea, and they decided to put a very low current, and it got very frustrating.”
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a couple of days following his first treatments, he was asked to return to the hospital with a guitar in hand to test more about how the treatment was working. fabio was also asked to be featured in data collection about dbs efficacy, where he would play in front of other doctors. the results were nothing short of miraculous.
“after that, it was like eight hours a day playing guitar for like four or five months until i got back to the point without tremors,” he said.
three months later, he was back on the stage playing music with his band and his doctor. now, because of dbs, fabio has regained 95% of his guitar-playing abilities.
“i don’t like to use the word miracle because i feel that’s not fair to scientists in the world and the doctors that are working their lives away to get this treatment right. so, it almost feels like a miracle. but it’s not. it’s science at its best,” he said.
the availability and success of treatments like dbs at uhn are largely thanks to the generous support of donors to the uhn foundation. donations of all shapes and sizes, from 1 dollar to 1 million dollars, are crucial in developing life-changing technologies for patients like fabio. philanthropy plays a vital role in advancing medical science, and when we are united, it has the power to save lives and change the status quo of healthcare. to donate, please visit www.uhnited.ca.
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angelica bottaro
angelica bottaro

angelica bottaro is the lead editor at healthing.ca, and has been content writing for over a decade, specializing in all things health. her goal as a health journalist is to bring awareness and information to people that they can use as an additional tool toward their own optimal health.

read more about the author

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