Grateful Essential Tremor Study Participant Becomes Donor

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Patient profile: John Watterson

Recently, FUSF Director of Development Kimberly Skelly was delighted to receive the following unsolicited letter:

Dear Ms. Skelly,
I was the fifth person to undergo focused ultrasound treatment for Essential Tremor. Dr. Elias performed the surgery on June 20, and, so far, my tremor is much improved.

I’m also Executive Director of The Watterson Foundation, a small family foundation, which consists of my two brothers and myself. We normally give to organizations that assist youth, seniors, the homeless, and people who somehow fall through the cracks.

Because of my surgery, I wanted to make a small donation to your foundation and, hopefully, we can do more later in the year.

I am extremely grateful to the Ultrasound [Surgery] Foundation for making possible this surgery, which has helped me immensely. And, I can’t begin to say enough good things about the work of Dr. Elias and his staff – so I won’t even try.

Sincerely,
John S. Watterson
Vice-President and Executive Director
The Watterson Foundation
Charlottesville, VA

Later, Watterson visited Foundation headquarters and invited us to attend an event he was hosting. The goal of the event was to educate the local essential tremor community about focused ultrasound and the clinical trial at the University of Virginia.

At the conclusion of that event, we had an opportunity to interview both Watterson and his wife, Yvonne, who lovingly refers to her husband as “Patient Number Five.” In the interview, Watterson described his pre-treatment symptoms, focused ultrasound treatment, and outcome; Yvonne discussed how her husband’s participation in the essential tremor study caused her to feel fear, concern and – ultimately – delight.

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