Kevin Holmes, 59, is looking forward to getting his life back, including doing more with his family, after being the first patient at our Trust to have selective peripheral denervation (SPD), a procedure to treat a debilitating form of Dystonia.

We are the only Trust in London, and one of only two in the country, to offer this. In Kevin’s case, the form of Dystonia he was suffering caused his neck to twist to the side of its own accord, an extremely painful condition. SPD is an operation to weaken the overactive muscle which causes these contractions by cutting off its nerve supply.

Kevin, of Southend, said of our team, including neurosurgeon Ian Low who carried out the procedure: “They’re brilliant and have changed my life. I can look straight ahead now and no longer experience the pain and eye strain I was having.

“It’s allowed me to live a much better life and I feel very lucky to have been offered this procedure.”

Kevin had the operation at Queen’s Hospital at the end of October 2021. He had first began to experience symptoms of Dystonia in 2008 – five years after he was badly beaten, including having a brick dropped on his head, while trying to stop burglars targeting his neighbour’s home.

As his condition worsened, resulting in the loss of the use of an arm, it was extremely debilitating for the father-of-two who was unable to pick up his eldest daughter, Millie, now 20, a toddler at the time. It also eventually resulted in him taking early retirement from his job as a civil servant as he couldn’t sit at a computer for longer than 15 minutes.

While other procedures including surgery and deep brain stimulation helped keep it at bay, they eventually stopped working as well. That was when neurosurgeon Ian, who had learned the technique while on sabbatical in Japan in 2019, suggested SPD.

Kevin added: “As I was the first to be offered the operation I was a bit nervous but I had complete faith in my surgeon. I’m very happy now. I’d had to give up driving and I am now thinking of resuming that.

“I feel like family life has been in limbo for several years so I’m hoping to do more with them now, even go on holiday. I couldn’t before because of the pain.”

Kevin, who is married to Nina, 47, also has daughter Ruby, 14.

The results of SPD were immediate for Kevin following surgery, which took three hours. It started with an electromyography (EMG), performed by neurophysiologist Valentina Simioni, to identify the correct nerve before Ian cut off its connection to the brain.

After just one night in hospital, Kevin was able to return home. Living without the painful neck twist has allowed him to resume a much better quality of life, including being able to sleep longer than a few hours each night, and enjoying his model-building hobby.

Pictured top is Kevin (centre) with Valentina and Ian.