From Surviving to Thriving - Our Story of Perseverance

Wishie #1 is spreading the word about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), an amazing, safe, effective, FDA approved, non-drug treatment for depression and other mental health conditions. TMS gave us our daughter back.

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In early 2020, I had already decided that I needed to stop commuting from Mountain View to Seattle every week; Juno/Celgene/BMS was an amazing ride and it was time to turn over our groundbreaking Cell Therapy Digital Platform and Global Patient Solutions team to others within BMS. Our twins were finishing their sophomore year in high school and I knew it was time to be ‘present to win’ as a parent. Then the pandemic hit and so my family went from not seeing me at all during the week, to us all being in the same house, all day, every day, and that was a very rough adjustment. I didn’t take it personally ;) What I failed to see and admit to myself was that both of our daughters were suffering, in different ways. By Summer 2020, both were showing signs of anxiety and Chase was diagnosed with severe depression and anorexia.?

Only in retrospect could I see Chase slipping away from us and the depression moving to the forefront. Most times, we could only talk to the depression, and it was crushing her under its relentless weight. She is a warrior and she fought as hard as she possibly could, every minute of every day.

If in December of 2020 someone had said to me, “Cindy, there’s a non-drug treatment with minimal side effects (maybe a headache) and it can help Chase feel better quickly, possibly within days or weeks” I would have hugged them profusely.?

That didn’t happen, so we went down the path that so many others have and will when they or their loved one is diagnosed with a mental illness - talk therapy (we found helpful but not curative) and a myriad of antidepressants (hard to tell if they were helpful but I don’t think so. Changing pills and/or dosage was very hard - physically and emotionally; data shows they work maybe 30% of the time and even less as more are tried).

We put together a great group of doctors, which we named, “Team Chase” and I managed them like every team in my career. That was the only skill I had that helped us. What made me a successful leader, visionary, executive, etc… wasn’t enough at this moment. Depression doesn’t care who you are. So, I turned to daily meditation, drawing my emotions because words were failing me, reading about suffering (from a Buddhist perspective), talking to other moms, and ultimately, understanding that I couldn’t fix this. Depression is used to winning?.

In late 2021, and Chase's depression worsening, I read some clinical trial results that changed our lives forever. As we learned more, the premise made sense to me - if you believe that depression is an electrical disconnection or dormancy in the brain, why would you douse it with chemicals or try and talk your way through it? Enter TMS, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.? Below are the questions we asked and my layperson responses.

Question 1 - what is TMS?

TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate/rejuvenate brain pathways. It targets areas of the brain associated with mental health conditions that aren’t as active in a depressed brain. This made sense.

Question 2 - is TMS another or new name for ECT (electroconvulsive therapy)?

No.? ECT requires a seizure to work and reboots the brain (memory loss, etc…) and is done in an in-patient setting.? TMS is done outpatient and the instance of seizure is 0.001%.

Question 3 - does TMS hurt?

Chase told me it felt like tapping on her head, she did have a few headaches after a few of the days of treatment that went away and if her scalp was sore from the tapping, she told them and they adjusted it. It shouldn’t hurt because it’s non-invasive.

Question 4 - does it work, how quickly and for how long?

We found there are (at least) two schedules of TMS treatments - one is (daily for 20-30min, over 4-6 weeks), the other is (every day, for five days, 10min treatments every hour for 10 hours).?The former which the decades long approved TMS schedule shows as high as 70% response. The 2021 clinical trial results that caught our attention was for the accelerated schedule → 79% entered remission after five days of treatment vs 13% in the sham arm.? Small trial, 29 total people with 14 in treatment and 15 in sham, BUT that was THE BEST data I had seen on any severe depression treatment.? After you feel better, then you work with your Dr. on maintenance treatments, which may or may not be necessary and is still being studied. TMS can also be used to treat anxiety, PTSD, and OCD.

Question 5 - what does it cost?

We had to pay out of pocket because Chase was under 18 (by three weeks) and she went through an accelerated schedule.? Major health insurances cover the TMS schedule (if you're over 18) but make sure the provider you select has experience with the appeals process, successful experience ;)

Question 6 - if it’s so helpful, why haven’t I heard about it before now?

I have no idea !!! Seems like one of the best kept secrets since it was FDA cleared in 2008.? This is why I’m on the board of FACTMS (Foundation for the Advancement of Clinical TMS) and, with Chase, have started a Patient Advocacy Group that includes top clinicians, researchers and of course patients.

…and once we got through those questions, talked to friends, and trusted experts, we landed at “Why not TMS??"? She did TMS in January 2022 and in a very short time (within days) felt better and kept improving. In her words, by the weekend after her initial sessions “I could see two friends in one day,” something she hadn’t done in two years. As she started feeling better, we could see our vibrant, brilliant, funny daughter returning to us.

Today Chase is a sophomore at Boston University, studying Psych and pre-med so she can create novel therapies for adolescents like her. Her last treatment was in June 2022 and Chase says, “I live a fairly normal life now, but I’m living an extraordinary life for someone diagnosed with deep depression.” For me, I still meditate, I’m still learning to ask for help, and I’m getting comfortable sharing our/my story whenever possible while knowing that TMS won’t help everyone like it helped Chase - but just trying to make sure people know it’s the best non-drug option that heals depression that we could find.

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My trusted network, here are my invitations

• Spread the word - repost this to your network, tell your friends, message me for “Cindy’s TMS starter kit”, Chase on the Today Show
• Donate - FACTMS’s mission is to increase awareness and access.? We’re raising money currently to support research grants and increase assess in underserved communities.
• Social Media superheroes - we need your help - looking for THE best website design/advice and social reach so we can get the word out. Can you offer time or other connections to help us?
• Podcast Hosts and Media - invite us to share more about TMS. We have experts from Stanford, Medical University of South Carolina, the creators of TMS (Mark George and Tony Barker), top neuromodulation clinics in the US and of course patients, families and caregivers, ready to talk and share.

As we all know, we are truly stronger and better together!!!? …and my next wishie will be about loneliness and the power of art to heal and connect us.

…Cindy