Paul Hisey

After 53 years living with essential tremor, today Paul Hisey’s life was changed and his tremor has disappeared. This morning Paul was the 50th MRI-guided focused ultrasound patient at UCF Lake Nona Hospital.

“All I can say is, wow! I never thought I would see this day.”

Diagnosed at an early age with what was called, “detail tremors,” and now understood as “essential tremor,” Paul would be fine until he needed to concentrate on an activity, which provided the stimulus to turn on the tremors, and he would begin to shake uncontrollably.

“I was 13, involved in scouting, and working on building an entry in the annual pine box derby. I had a block of balsa wood to shape into a car, and my uncle was helping me and gave me a knife.”

As he began to whittle Paul remembers that he noticed he couldn’t control his hands. “My uncle said, ‘why are you so nervous, Paul; What’s wrong? Give me that thing; you’re going to cut yourself!’”

Paul adapted and lived with the condition, however the essential tremor continued to worsen throughout the years, compromising many actions many take for granted such as writing, eating and drinking, and just being out in public.

Working as an engineer, Paul trained himself to memorize information well, as the process of taking notes and writing was painful and embarrassing. “I’ve thought of doing horrible things to myself because it’s just too awful. People wonder what’s wrong with him?”

“Essential tremor is a life altering problem for most of the patients, and it’s something they are eager to get treated as soon as they can,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Nizam Razack, who performs the procedure at UCF Lake Nona Hospital. “Sound wave beams come into the brain and they all meet at one point, that’s what focused ultrasound is. There’s no cutting of any sort; the entire procedure is carried out in an MRI scanner, and it takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours to do. Essentially the patient walks in with a debilitating tremor and walks out with no tremor.”

“About a year ago,” Paul said, “I saw the media story and your hospital on the news, and thought, ‘Holy cow!’” Unfortunately, Paul learned his insurance provider didn’t cover the procedure. “I really took it hard, and was devastated. I’ve waited so long for a cure to this thing.”

Paul’s employer unbeknownst to him, researched and found an insurance plan that covered focused ultrasound for Paul, which they were able to set up for him. “I can’t believe they would do that for me. It meant the world.”

“I’m looking forward to just writing my name. I haven’t been able to do that legibly since I was very young.”

“I have been praying for so long about this, and you just don’t know what this means to me. Thank you!”
#RaiseTheBar #HealthierTomorrows