Eddie Adcock surgery hits the news

Eddie Adcock in pre-opThe story of banjo man Eddie Adcock’s groundbreaking brain surgery, which we first reported here a month ago, is spilling out into the national and international media.

The procedure involved embedding electrical leads in his brain, connected to a pulse generator implanted in his chest, with wires running between them under his skin. Know as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Eddie underwent the three-stage surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center in August in an attempt to defeat tremors in his right hand.

After a piece on Good Morning America which aired just after IBMA, the story of Eddie’s successful surgery has been carried in dozens of papers and television news programs all over the world. The irresistible hook to many of these stories has been the fact that Eddie not only had to be conscious during the procedure, but since it was designed to repair the tremor for the sake of his playing, he actually picked the banjo on the operating table during the surgery!

Here is the story that ran on GMA, which includes video shot by the staff at Vanderbilt during the procedure, and some stunning with and without footage shot a few weeks ago.

Hats off to Eddie, not only for his willingness to try something as drastic as this to recover his playing skill, but for the notoriety that has come his way as a result.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.