Becky Epton was a middle-aged woman who lived in suburban Virginia outside Washington. She had a bad case of Essential Tremor which affected her hands, head and voice. She regularly came to our Falls Church support group. At the June 9, 2011 meeting, we discussed the new procedure \u2013 MRI Focused Ultrasound. Immediately after the meeting, Becky contacted the University of Virginia about having the procedure. That September, she was the twelfth person to have it.<\/p>\n
Becky & I communicated extensively by phone and email both before and afterwards. I was so impressed with her courage having such a new procedure. She didn\u2019t hesitate at all.<\/p>\n
It was a success. Previously the tremor was so bad in her predominant hand that she had to learn to use her other hand to do things. Afterwards the tremor in her predominant hand was almost non-existent. She had to learn to use it again. Her disappointment was that she had hoped it would improve the tremor in her voice and head. The people at UVA had told her beforehand it would not, and it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Becky came to our support group meeting afterwards and related her experience. She came a few more times after that. I was always very happy to see her as it was so nice to see an ET success story. But she stopped coming because she was unable due to other health problems.<\/p>\n
She developed a very serious and debilitating disease. She died last week. Her last few months had been very difficult. She was my hero. I had always been impressed with her courage and told her so. She deserved much better!<\/p>\n
Becky, I\u2019ll miss you.<\/p>\n
Peter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"