Carving juniper for over 15 years and creating wood sculptures for most of his life, Bill Daggett dreaded the day he had to give up his art because of the Parkinson’s diagnosis he received seven years earlier.
He left a table with scattered pieces of wood in all stages of production unfinished.
A year and a half ago, Bill Daggett gave up the thing he loves to do most in the world. But after a surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, he is back to his patio studio.
“It was heartbreaking," Bill Daggett said before stopping.
His wife, Jennifer Daggett, picked up the sentence where he had stopped.
“It was, because being that we had the studio here at the house, it was a constant reminder of what he couldn’t do,” Jennifer Daggett said.
The Daggett family is no stranger to Parkinson's; Bill Daggett’s dad and sister also had the disease. Parkinson’s was always at the back of the couple's mind when he started noticing symptoms.
“The first time that he realized something was going on with his body, we were in Montana and he was on a tractor. And his right foot started shaking,” Jennifer Daggett said.
He tried for months to get into the Barrow Neurological Institute. Bill Daggett was eventually successful in getting an appointment after meeting a doctor at one of his art shows. It was then he was officially diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
He gave up sculpting because of his progression. He dealt with depression, something his wife of 62 years was unfamiliar with.
“That was something I wasn’t used to seeing, was this new Bill. Because he knew he wasn’t the old Bill either," Jennifer Daggett said. "But I got him back!”
Years after trying medications and feeling no improvements, he began researching deep brain simulation (DBS) surgery and consulting with several doctors.
DBS places a small device in the brain of the patient and acts almost like a pacemaker. Candidates have to have the disease for at least four years and try medication before being considered.
“We’ve pioneered over the last 15 years, is really bringing this therapy to prime time,” said Dr. Francisco Ponce, chief of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at Barrow. “Through standardization, using surgical robotics, using anthrop imaging, making this into a really reproducible surgery that patients can basically expect to get in, get out and get back in the game.”
Ponce performed the procedure on Bill Daggett in October.
“So you had two parts, one was intolerable side effects to medication, and the other one was medication refractory symptoms,” Ponce said. “And so that tees them up to being an ideal candidate for DBS.”
Just weeks after his surgery, Bill Daggett carved a small dolphin sculpture.
“My hands would work, everything would work. I couldn’t believe it,” Bill Daggett said. “Now I am excited about life. Not just my hands, my body. All the tension was out of my body, so I’m relaxed. So I turn on my blues music and I go back to carving.”
Now, he carves with the purpose of helping others. He hopes to sell several of his pieces to raise money for Parkinson’s research.
“These are the people that have changed our lives, and we want to spend the rest of our lives working on the foundation,” Bill Daggett said. “We are setting up a new foundation right now. And we want to pay it forward. I want to raise millions of dollars if this arm is worthy of it.”
The twisted juniper branches turned into birds, dolphins or horses by Bill Daggett can be found at metro Phoenix art shows.
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