Grandad's miracle op as voice returns to wish granddaughter a Happy Christmas

30 December 2023 , 16:18

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Freya and Bernard (Image: @thebolingbrokes514/ CATERS NEWS)

Just a few words from her grandad made one little girl feel like all her Christmases had come at once.

Bernard Parmenter, 68, was the life and soul of the party until Parkinson’s robbed him of his voice and put him in a wheelchair. Now he can speak again after doctors fine-tuned electrodes implanted in his brain. It meant the former company director could wish granddaughter Freya Bolingbroke and the rest of the family a happy Christmas for the first time in three years.

Freya, 11, said: “It feels amazing that I can finally speak to him and he can cheer me on at football.” Her mum Stephanie, 33, added: “To have my dad talking again is everything me and Freya wanted for Christmas. This was the first Christmas we could spend with my mum and dad in four years. We’ve moved into a new home, which we’ve adapted to make it more comfortable for him. Freya said to me, ‘I’m not bothered about Christmas presents this year, I’m just glad they can be with us and Grandad can talk’.”

Bernard with daughter Stephanie and Freya (@thebolingbrokes514/ CATERS NEWS)

Bernard with his beloved granddaughter (@thebolingbrokes514/ CATERS NEWS)

Bernard was diagnosed with incurable brain disease Parkinson’s in 2012 when Stephanie was pregnant with Freya. It slowly reduced his mobility and he could no longer talk by the end of 2020. That year, doctors performed deep brain stimulation treatment – DBS – which involves implanting electrodes in the skull. And last month they adjusted the electrodes – which brought his voice back.

Bernard is looked after by his wife Sue, 65, who said: “All he’s doing now is speaking which is lovely to hear. It’s really nice to have Bernard back.” Recalling meeting her parents in hospital after the latest DBS procedure, Stephanie said: “I could hear my mum laughing as she walked down the corridor and my dad turned around to us and said, ‘We’re going home’. I burst into tears.”

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Stephanie, who runs clothing firm Brand It Essex with husband James, 39, in Chelmsford, went on: “Before this, my dad was an amazing man and the ultimate grandad to Freya. He was the life and soul of the party. Freya has always said that before lockdown her grandad walked, talked, and cuddled. But by the end of 2020, he could barely walk, and his speech was muffled. By 2022, he didn’t want to leave the house, as he was in a wheelchair 90% of the time.”

Parkinson’s disease symptoms get progressively worse over time and more than 150,000 people, mostly elderly, have it in the UK Bernard, who does not have a long-term prognosis for his condition, said he “feels human again”.

Todd Sasin