BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Essential tremor is the most common movement disorder in America, but many people have never heard of it. For Mark Honeyman, the neurological condition made simple tasks like eating, drinking, and writing his own name daunting.
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"I was 61 or so, and I was sitting at the kitchen counter, and I was trying to eat a bowl of cereal, and I couldn’t get the spoon into my mouth," Honeyman said.
Honeyman first felt the symptoms of Essential tremor, which causes shaking of the hands, head, and voice, when he was 12 or 13 years old. Despite being on medication, his symptoms worsened over the years.
"I hope to make it to 90, 100 maybe, and I want to live, I don’t just want to exist," Honeyman said.
Honeyman could not control the shaking until 2022, when he underwent Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery. The procedure took 6 to 7 hours and was followed by a battery placement in his chest and activating the device.
Dr. Danika Paulo, a functional neurosurgeon at Henry Ford Health, has performed many of these procedures and recently replaced the 3-year-old device in Honeyman’s chest.
"The reason I went into neurosurgery is, really, because the central nervous system is really so innate to our human functioning and how we interact with the world, and when that system is disordered, it can be really debilitating," Paulo said.
Paulo says ET is 6 to 7 times more prevalent than Parkinson's disease, affecting millions of people nationwide.
"I think what stood out to me about Mark is his infectious, positive energy and his enthusiasm about helping other people with this condition," Paulo said.
Before his surgery, Honeyman was an English teacher for 35 years. He retired from the Bloomfield Hills School District in 2019 after teaching more than 4,000 students, and I was one of them. He kept every yearbook and every note a student wrote him during his entire career.
As Essential Tremor Awareness Month comes to a close in March, Honeyman has become a voice for the essential tremor community. His story was picked up by a film crew and turned into a documentary called "Still Honeyman", which follows his journey and life-changing decision to undergo DBS.
"It has not only given my body back, but it has given the world back to me, where whatever it is that I’m interested in doing, it’s available to me, and there are no limitations anymore," Honeyman said.
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