He’s a medical and a musical marvel.
Brad Carter was awake and strumming the guitar for six hours during his own brain surgery as doctors performed their work.
The amazing feat had a medical purpose: Carter’s fancy fretwork helped his surgeons locate the best spot for a deep brain stimulation procedure that they hope will ease tremors in his hands that have kept him from his life’s passion.
“I’ve been a guitarist since 1988,” Carter, an actor and musician in Los Angeles, told NBC’s “Today.” “Music is my first love. I’m an actor for a living, but I always have music to turn to. It’s a part of your soul.”
Carter began experiencing the hand tremors seven years ago. Medications didn’t help, and he had to stop performing as a musician, though he was still able to make a living as an actor, with roles on TV series such as “CSI: NY,” “The Mentalist” and “Bones.”
Doctors diagnosed his condition as a benign essential tremor, and elected to try a surgical procedure called deep brain stimulation that is also used on patients with Parkinson’s and some seizure disorders.
Patients are typically awake for a portion of the surgery, and so was Carter, playing his one-of-a-kind handmade guitar as doctors at UCLA hospital implanted what amounts to a pacemaker for the brain.
Weeks later, his tremors have lessened and he can play guitar again.
“What this offers is hope I didn’t have before,” he told “Today.”
On a mobile device? Click here to view the video.
