I was falling over at the age of seven
MATT Eagles was just seven years old when he began struggling to stand up straight, shaking and sometimes falling over.
Some 44 years on, he now has two electrodes in his brain attached to a pulse generator in his chest plus his own remote control to allow him to change the electric current which goes into his head – effectively a brain pacemaker.
Matt, a photographer, said: “It’s as if I’m a remotecontrolled puppet. But there’s no puppeteer to pull my strings.”
It was his headmaster at primary school who initially noticed how Matt was unable to stand up straight at school assemblies.
His GP suspected arthritis but examinations showed nothing wrong with his knees.
He had a brain scan that proved inconclusive, so his parents took him to Manchester Royal Infirmary for a second opinion.
He saw a movement specialist who prescribed Sinemet, a drug used to manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
The medication alleviated some of his symptoms, helping him to regain most of his motor control.
But it was only years later that he was able to put a name to the disease that had been afflicting him.
He explained: “I was part of a scientific project as a subject.
“The report identified me as Patient A and briefly described my medical history. It was about PET scans of patients with Parkinson’s disease. That’s when I first became aware I had the disease.”
Happily married Matt, from Cuddington, Cheshire, now welcomes the possibility of new treatments and has been nominated for a national award for his work in raising awareness of Parkinson’s.
He said: “I fall over, but
I get up again.”