MERRIFIELD, Minn. — Bruce Lunde has never let his age stop him from staying active, so when Parkinson’s Disease threatened to slow him down at the age of 81, he decided to take action.

Lunde recently underwent surgery in order to become the first patient in the upper Midwest to receive Medtronic’s latest Deep Brain Stimulation device.

“Within seconds my tremor was gone,” Lunde said, recalling the moment doctors activated the device, which was implanted via surgery. “It’s amazing what they can do.”

A Very Active Octogenarian

After teaching in Edina for 35 years, Bruce and his wife, Gail Lunde, retired to the woods of central Minnesota, where they remain today.

“I enjoy cutting wood and I enjoy splitting wood,” said Lunde, who relies on a wood-burning stove to heat their home. “I like to have enough on hand to stay a year ahead, so I don’t sit around too much.”

Lunde is also active in his church choir and enjoys running and boxing, so it didn’t take long for his tremors to begin to impact his life.

“The tremor was bothering me more, particularly when I was singing,” he recalled. “I couldn’t hold my sheet music. I tried medication but I felt like my tremor didn’t improve.”

When doctors first diagnosed Bruce with Parkinson’s Disease a few years ago, they told him he might be a good candidate for deep brain stimulation.

“It’s changing the way that the brain networks work, enhancing the pathways that help you move,” said Dr. Robert McGovern, a neurosurgeon at M Health Fairview. 

But brain surgery is required in order to make that possible.

“It’s one long kind of wire that gets sent into the brain,” Dr. McGovern said. “We implant two tiny electrodes and calibrate them. They are connected to that wire which then connects to the device.”

Though Brain Stimulation Devices have been around for many years, Dr. McGovern says early batteries often didn’t last beyond just 2-3 years and required additional surgeries to replace.

When Medtronic began introducing wireless charging capabilities in recent years, it was a game changer for many patients, including Bruce.

“It’s charging right now and I just sit like this,” Bruce said, showing off the charging pad draped over his shoulder that indicated that it was connected to the DBS device implanted in the upper part of his chest.

“I wasn’t interested in undergoing multiple surgeries,” he said. “This battery is expected to last more than 10 years.” 

In addition to the wireless charging, Bruce can also calibrate his own device with nothing more than a few taps on a cell phone. That means he can consult his doctors from his home and dial in his treatment around his lifestyle.

“The tremor isn’t 100% gone,” he said. “But what a blessing it has been. I feel normal again.”

Dr. McGovern said the most exciting aspect of the device may be yet to come. It features Medtronic’s new BrainSense Technology.

Dr. McGovern: “One of the cool things about it is it actually records the brain signals on the device to individualize the therapy.”

Kent Erdahl: “So, in a sense, the device is getting smarter?” 

Dr. McGovern: “Yeah. One, we can learn more about what’s happening in the brain throughout the course of the disease. Two, we know that it works already, but this is potentially a way to make it a lot better.”

Despite all of that promise, Dr. McGovern said he is grateful for Bruce’s courage to embrace the new technology at his age, something even Gail struggled with initially.

“It’s something I have a hard time thinking about,” Gail said, recalling the first time she learned about the surgery. “I didn’t want it to be done, but Bruce was ready for it. So we did it.”

They are both grateful they did.

“I don’t worry too much about it,” Bruce said. “I feel confident that I’m going to be able to function for a long time.”

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — It’s been nearly seven months since two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter/paramedic were killed in the line of duty. Since then, grief has been hard to overcome for many in the departments.

“The memories are intense,” Beth Eilers, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 14, said. “It will stick with them forever, it just get’s lighter, gets a little bit further back.”

Eilers says a potential source of closure will come as the names of those three – Adam Finseth, Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge – are enshrined on national memorials in Washington, DC, next year. Getting there is expensive, though.

That’s why hundreds came to Bogart’s in Apple Valley Thursday for a fundraiser to get those departments there next year.

“This is dedicated to getting the whole force to Washington, DC, for the dedication,” Chris Loth, co-owner of Bogarts Entertainment Center, said. “It’s a way to honor those who risk their lives to take care of us, to keep us safe.”

Money raised from tickets to get in for a show by Good for Gary, along with a silent auction, will all go towards that goal. Amy and Tom Strese came from Farmington to show their support.

“Super important that they can honor their brothers that we lost,” Amy said.

“You can’t take back that engraving,” Tom added. “So when it gets engraved, and everybody can view it, that solidifies their sacrifice.”

While hearts were heavy inside Bogart’s Thursday night, Eilers knows that money will help.

“It’s a sad night that has a good ending,” she said.

Loth says they’d like to hold more events like this in the future.

MINNEAPOLIS — North Dakota’s abortion ruling has been felt in Minnesota. Once again, abortion is legal in the state after a district court judge struck down the state’s abortion ban.

North Dakota State Director for Gender Justice Christina Sambor said her organization was co-counsel on the lawsuit.

“It can be hard to be in a place that feels really one-sided sometimes in how we discuss some of these issues, and so to see a really thorough legal analysis like this and to really point out how much it is really out of sync with the rights that are guaranteed to citizens in North Dakota. It’s a really great day,” she said.

Cathy Blaeser, co-executive director at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, doesn’t feel the same way.

“There’s no protection for unborn children at any point of gestational age at any point in the pregnancy. And so, they’re just abandoned. They’re abandoned to a profit-seeking abortion industry that only wants to take their money and take your child,” Blaeser said.

University of Minnesota Law Professor Jill Hasday said the judge cited two main arguments in his judgement.

“The basic idea there is the state can’t pass a law that is so unclear people don’t have enough of a sense of whether they violated it or not,” she said. “The first argument is that it’s void for void for vagueness because doctors are not able to rely on these exceptions because there is always a chance they’ll be second-guessed later. And then the second argument is that the North Dakota Constitution guarantees women like all North Dakotans a right to life, liberty and happiness, and this gives women a basic right to just have autonomy over themselves.”

Hasday said it’s highly likely the ruling will get appealed, but it won’t appear in federal court.

“One thing to know is that state courts are the ultimate interpreter of what a state constitution means, so this wouldn’t be appealable to a federal court,” Hasday said.

She said this call will go to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Blaeser hopes it will make its way to the state’s high court because she doesn’t want to see North Dakota turn into Minnesota.

“It is just a sad day for North Dakota. They have done so much to try and protect women, to try and protect unborn children… from profit seeking abortion facilities, profit seeking abortion providers who really only want to provide an abortion to a woman,” she said.

Sambor said if it gets appealed that will easily add another year of litigation, but she’s hopeful the outcome will be in her favor if it goes that far.

“This ruling means that doctors are free to practice the standard of care and give your loved one’s emergency medical care when they need it and not to delay,” she said. “I think it’s just so important that people not feel like their basic rights are impossible to defend because of where they live.”