Former Hastings resident Terry Tonkin, pictured with wife
Judy, will undergo a surgery today that should help reduce
the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
OMAHA — Terry Tonkin and his wife Judy sit down at their table at the restaurant. They place their orders, talk about their day, wait. As the minutes tick by, the tremors that constantly shake Tonkin's body begin to worsen. The other diners are looking at him, wondering why he is shaking the table, why the glasses are clinking.
By the time the food arrives, Tonkin, 70, is shaking so badly his wife asks the waiter to box the food so they can go home.
This is why Tonkin, a 1960 graduate of Hastings St. Cecilia High School, doesn't go to restaurants anymore.
It's why today he will have holes drilled in his skull and wires threaded through his brain at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
If the procedure is successful, it should relieve Tonkin's symptoms and give him the quality of life he's been missing since the trembling started in 2000.
To read more, see Thursday's Hastings Tribune or the Tribune e-edition.>>>
