Rebecca King Crews, wife of actor Terry Crews, revealed exclusively on the TODAY show that she has Parkinson’s disease — and that she recently underwent a newly-approved procedure to help manage her symptoms.
“I feel good,” King Crews said during the segment. “I’m able to write my name and my dates, and I’m able to write with my right hand for the first time in probably three years.”
Her first symptoms appeared around 2012, which ultimately led to the diagnosis in 2015. In the early stages, King Crews had symptoms that came on relatively suddenly and progressed quickly.
It started with numbness in her left foot while working out, which progressed to a limp. Her doctor thought she was just working out too much, but her personal trainer started noticing that her left arm wasn’t swinging as much as her right during certain exercises.
One morning, she went to put lip gloss on and realized her hand was shaking. She knew that was a tremor, she said, “because my grandmother had tremors.”
Still, her doctor just thought she was having anxiety, and a neurologist wasn’t sure what was going on. Finally, after three years of confusing symptoms, a Parkinson’s specialist recognized that she had the condition.
The most frustrating symptom for King Crews has been the tremors, which made it challenging to do basic tasks like putting on makeup or brushing her teeth.
But, as she navigated everything, she thought to herself, “Just keep walking,” King Crews said. While she was getting diagnosed, she was still working on a book, an album and a clothing line.
“Just keep going. And that’s what I’m going to keep doing,” she said. “I believe that you don’t lay down and die because you got a diagnosis.”
That’s part of why she decided to pursue the new non-invasive surgical procedure, a bilateral focused ultrasound, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration just last year.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive movement disorder of the nervous system that weakens nerve cells and leads to symptoms, including problems with movement, tremor, stiffness and impaired balance.
What is a focused ultrasound for Parkinson’s disease?
During the procedure, doctors use a device called Exablate Neuro, developed by a company called Insightec, to deliver ultrasound waves to specific areas on both sides of the brain. They’re guided by magnetic resonance imagine (MRI) to target the areas thought to be involved in the movement symptoms in Parkinson’s.
Focused ultrasound typically produces immediate results and can be a good option for people who can’t or don’t want to pursue deep brain stimulation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research explains.
But focused ultrasound is not a cure. And it’s considered an adjunct therapy, meaning it doesn’t replace the need for medication.
While the technology was available and approved for use in one side of the brain in 2021, it wasn’t until last July that the FDA expanded the indication to give patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease the option to target both sides of the brain.
Recovery and major improvements
After undergoing the procedure on March 4, King Crews noticed she was a little sleepier during recovery. But she also noticed significant improvements in her symptoms.
The tremor on her right side is gone, and her balance has improved as well, making her walking feel normal again. She’s been able to reduce the amount of medication she takes after the focused ultrasound, but still takes it because the symptoms on her left side remain.
So far, she’s only had the procedure on one side of her body. But she’ll be getting the procedure again on the other said this September.
She’s “still figuring out” life in recovery, King Crews said.
“Part of the procedure is improved symptoms, so you’re improved on one side (but) not on the other,” she explained. “However, each day that I do things, I’m aware of the benefit that’s already been to me on the one side of the body. So I’m looking forward to doing the left side.”
Seeing her write her own name again for the first time in three years, Terry Crews said on TODAY that he got “choked up just thinking about it.”
And looking back on everything they’ve been through together, Terry Crews calls his wife a “superhero” and “the rock of our lives.” She was previously underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020.
“When they say sickness and health, this is the battle that we were designed to fight together,” Terry Crews said. “Where she’s weak, I’m strong. Where I’m weak, she’s strong. And we built each other up like that for almost 37 years and all the way to forever.”
Today, at age 60, King Crews is still quite active. She still drives, plays piano and attends a regular acting class.
Although she’s been living with Parkinson’s for over a decade, King Crews decided to share her experience publicly now because she’s so excited about the potential for this procedure.
“I wanted to potentially make it more available to others, because it’s an expensive surgery, it’s not covered (by insurance) yet,” King Crews said. “And (I want) to give hope to people with Parkinson’s, because I believe that we’re going to find the cure.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
