Editor’s note: This story was created through extensive material provided by Hackensack Meridian Health.
Tetiana Zaitseva was a nurse in Kiev, Ukraine, when bombs for Russia began dropping on her city.
Soon after, she was treating more than just the victims of the repeated attacks. She noticed she was having medical issues, too.
Zaitseva started to notice that handwriting notes became a bit more difficult, due to a slight tremor in her right hand. Doctors in Ukraine diagnosed Tetiana with Parkinson’s disease. To control her t tremors and other motor issues, Tetiana tried different doctors, acupuncture and other holistic options.
Nothing helped.
The war didn’t help, her daughter, Anastasia Kolomeithuk said.
“Because of the war, because of all the stress that we went through, she started having more severe tremors and rigidity,” Kolomeithuk said. “She couldn’t do basic things, cut fruit, knit, even lifting her mug of tea became difficult.”
Zaitseva also was struggling to run or walk quickly, which made her and her daughter’s decision to flee the war in Ukraine through Moldova even more complicated. The two met with a group of others to drive to the border of Moldova, syphoning gas from cars along the way, stopping to stay in people’s basements when it wasn’t safe to travel.
“When they start shooting missiles, you need to move fast. You need to hide, you need to run,” Kolomeithuk said. “My mom was unable to do that. Right on the border of Ukraine and Moldova, I said to my mom ‘I’m going to take you to the U.S., and we are going to seek treatment for your Parkinson’s.’”
After arriving in the U.S., a volunteer center told them about the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Dr. Shabbar Danish, chair of Neurosurgery at the academic medical center, was soon on the case – ready to implement a unique option that HMH can provide: Deep brain stimulation surgery.
“Because Tetiana’s Parkinson’s was motor dominant and resistant to treatment with medication, she was a strong candidate for deep brain stimulation surgery to control her symptoms,” Danish said.
“DBS is an operation that requires putting wires in the brain, that then reprograms a circuit in the brain that has gone somewhat haywire. It alleviates many if not all the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease which can include tremor, rigidity, or slowness of movement. I think the procedure is going to change Tetiana’s life. And I think as is true for many patients, she is going to look back and say, ‘I wish I did it sooner.’ ”
Here’s how it works.
First, patients undergo brain surgery to install wires or leads in the brain. Neurosurgeons use complex brain mapping to determine the brain circuits causing a patient’s tremor and install wiring to stimulate this portion of the brain. Initially none of the wires are connected until a pacemaker like device is turned on making the DBS operational, typically a few weeks after surgery. Patients then undergo a programming appointment to come up with a program that will best suppress their tremor with the least amount of side effects, to hopefully start weaning the patient off their medications.
Dana Dolce, the neuromodulation program manager for the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute, said programming is a delicate balance.
“As the deep brain stimulation increases with programming, we hope to reduce Tetiana’s medication to find a balance to best control her Parkinson’s symptoms,” she said. “We will continue to adjust her DBS and medications to maintain this balance as her disease progresses over her lifetime.”
Thanks to DBS, Zaitseva’s tremor, rigidity and other motor symptoms are now negligible. She can return to doing things independently she hasn’t been able to in years including cooking and knitting in the safety of her new home in New Jersey, a long way from the war in her homeland of Ukraine.
“DBS was the best thing that could have happened in my life,” she said. “I don’t think I will have anything as big or life changing. You cannot compare this with anything. I would recommend DBS and this team to anyone with Parkinson’s.”
Zaitseva expressed her gratitude toward the team at HMH, which has given her a better life.
“I cannot express how grateful I am,” she said. “I want to give a special thank you to my daughter. Without her I wouldn’t be here – both in the United States and with my Parkinson’s symptoms under control.”
Kolomeithuk shared the gratitude.
“My mom is starting to live a normal life and to enjoy everything she wasn’t able to do before,” she said. “She is not dependent on the pills anymore. It’s remarkable.”
