Surgery provides relief for Pittsburgh-area woman with Tourette's: "I got my life back"

A Hookstown, Beaver County, woman had to put her life on hold after her Tourette syndrome symptoms dominated her life. Now, a year after her surgery, her life is back on track and going in the right direction. 

Decorations are coming together for Abigail Bailey's wedding, but the story for this day took her to rock bottom before she could start thinking about celebrations. 

Bailey was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome when she was 3 years old. 

"Constant pain, just agony, depression," she said. "It was awful."

It was rough during middle school, but it got better in high school. After graduation, it got worse.

"It just got so bad to the point where I couldn't even live my life. I couldn't be independent. I couldn't do anything. My Tourette's always came first," Bailey said.

She would have broken bones, torn ligaments and bruises. Bailey had seen doctors before and taken medication after medication, but nothing gave long-term help. It reached a fever pitch in late 2024, as she was forced to move back in with her parents, quit her job and postpone her wedding.

"I physically could not perform my job, nor could I even drive. I couldn't even drive, my tics were so bad," Bailey said.

She went to the hospital and learned she had sepsis. It was at this point that she decided to do deep-brain stimulation.

"It scared me. It really did. That's what kind of made me want to get the surgery because I was scared," Bailey said.

Deep brain stimulation is when an implanted device helps send signals to the brain. It's used for conditions like Parkinson's, but hasn't been as widely used for Tourette's.

Dr. Don Whiting with Allegheny Health Network has been doing deep-brain stimulation since 1997. He said it's like a pacemaker for the brain and can be adjusted based on symptoms.

"So as the disease progresses, you can still recapture symptom control without any further surgery," Whiting said.

Whiting says Allegheny General Hospital sees about two to three of these surgeries a week. He felt this was ideal for Bailey.

"She turned out to be an excellent candidate for deep brain stimulation," Whiting said.

After being bedridden for months, Bailey got a two-part surgery last March. It wasn't instantaneous, but after a couple of months, Bailey's world changed for the better.

"Two months later, I started seeing a decrease in stuff, and it was amazing," Bailey said.

Now she's working at her old job, out of her parents' house and planning a wedding while finishing her bachelor's degree in health care administration at Robert Morris University.

"You're giving that family back their child, their life," Whiting said. "You're just changing the whole trajectory of their future."

"I got my life back," Bailey said. "I couldn't be more thankful and grateful for everything."

The next big challenge is getting out the save-the-dates and wedding invitations, but for Bailey, it's nothing compared to what she's already overcome.