A Life Rewired: How Deep Brain Stimulation at UF Health Helped a Young Man Restore Control

His first symptoms appeared during a Thanksgiving dinner in 2009, surrounded by family and food.

Nine-year-old Austin Streitmatter was eagerly digging into his mashed potatoes when his right leg started bouncing uncontrollably under the table.

“I said, ‘Austin, I need you to sit still,’” recalled his mother, Michele Streitmatter. “And he said, ‘Mommy, I can’t.’ We had invited a lot of people to Thanksgiving, but we didn’t invite whatever this thing was.”

What began as a minor tremor gradually gave way to more alarming changes. Austin’s feet began to curl. His leg drew up. His muscles twisted his body into positions he couldn’t control. Eventually, he lost the ability to sit altogether.

Michele and her husband, John, watched as their once-active son struggled to participate in daily life. A neurologist in the Tampa area diagnosed Austin with dystonia, a rare, often misunderstood neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, resulting in repetitive movements and abnormal postures.

It can affect various parts of the body, from limbs to vocal cords. In Austin’s case, it quickly began taking over his life.

“I tried not to dwell on why this happened but rather to spend a lot of time thinking about, ‘Well, how should we deal with this?’” John said.

Likewise, Michele refused to accept “watch and wait” as a strategy. She immersed herself in research, learning everything she could about dystonia, its causes and the few available treatment options.

“I turned into a heat-seeking missile and really started trying to understand what this was, what to do about it and who treats it,” she said.

That search led her two hours north of their Tampa-area home to one of the world’s leading movement disorder centers at the University of Florida. At UF Health, she found hope through two specialists who would change Austin’s future: neurologist Michael Okun, MD, and neurosurgeon Kelly Foote, MD.

“When we met Austin, he was really struggling,” Dr. Okun said. “This was a kid who had all the heart in the world. However, when he asked his body and muscles to do things, they weren’t firing in sequence. This was really beginning to take over his life — in school, in sports, at home.”

The uniqueness of Austin’s case also struck Dr. Foote.

“He had a very unusual presentation of dystonia,” he said. “I had never seen anything like it. When he tried to sit down, his dystonia would cause his hips and torso to extend and he would slide off the chair. He had to do everything standing up or lying down.”

The UF Health team recommended deep brain stimulation, or DBS, a surgical procedure that involves implanting electrodes into specific parts of the brain to regulate abnormal activity. It’s often compared to a cardiac pacemaker, but for the brain.

“The different islands in the brain were having an abnormal conversation,” Dr. Okun said. “We needed to intervene using DBS to change and modulate those scrambled signals.”

At the time, DBS was still relatively new for pediatric dystonia patients. Michele was terrified at the thought of brain surgery — but Austin?

“My first thought when I heard that deep brain stimulation was on the table for me was, ‘This is kind of cool. I’m gonna have people putting wires in my head,’” he said. “As a kid at the time, I had natural curiosity.”

The night before the surgery, Michele wrapped her arms around her son and whispered a silent prayer.

“I remember thinking, ‘Lord, I’m turning him back over to you and to these experts with an expectation that you’re going to bring him back to me and he’s going to be able to have a full and fruitful life,’” she said.

The surgery was not only successful — it was transformative.

“A lot of times, you operate on the children and you don’t see any change,” Dr. Okun said. “It takes days, weeks and months for it to evolve.”

However, with Austin, the change was spectacular. He went from a child unable to function independently to one who could walk, talk and engage with the world again.

The journey didn’t end in the operating room. What followed was months of rehabilitation: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and swallow therapy.

“He required every therapy you can think of,” Michele said, but she added that he never complained. He just kept moving forward.

Today, Austin, who was 11 at the time of the surgery, credits UF Health for restoring his movement and giving him back his future.

“Dystonia isn’t something I try to hide,” he said. “It’s part of who I am. I was diagnosed at 9. I’m 24 now. It’s been with me for over half my life.”

He now speaks openly about his experience, sharing his story at events. Austin unexpectedly found himself back in the spotlight at a recent fundraiser when Dr. Foote called him up to speak.

“He wasn’t prepared, but he stood up and gave one of the most moving speeches I’ve ever heard,” Dr. Foote said. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Austin’s unplanned speech helped raise more awareness — and funding — for dystonia research than they could have imagined.

“He just told the truth, and the truth was powerful,” he said.

Austin’s experience reshaped the Streitmatter family’s lives in unexpected ways.

“We’re so proud of him,” John said. “All of us have challenges in life. His are on the outside where you can see them. His choice has always been to deal with them head-on, accept his reality and control what he can control.”

And Austin’s mother believes his story will have a profound impact that will be felt by many.

“His competitive spirit and his love, combined, will cause change in the world,” Michele added. “Not just for him, but for every person he interacts with. I am so privileged to be his mom and to watch the journey happen.”

Dr. Foote said Austin’s success speaks to the strength of UF Health’s collaborative model.

“We’ve spent 25 years building this interdisciplinary team — neurology, neurosurgery, therapy, psychiatry, social work,” he said. “We have a cadre of specialists who know all the nuances of complex neurological disorders and treat people day in and day out. They’re not just movement disorder specialists. They’re deep brain stimulation specialists.”

The program’s reputation draws patients from across the country and is set apart by its continuity of care.

“We stay with them through the journey — through programming, therapy and follow-up,” Dr. Foote said. “That long-term partnership is essential for outcomes like Austin’s.”

Dr. Okun echoed that sentiment.

“At UF Health, we bring the research from our labs into the real world,” he said. “It’s all about ensuring the research that we do creates change and meaning for people.”

That mindset made all the difference for Austin.

“I knew I was in safe hands with UF Health,” he said. “I was in the best place, with the best people, getting the best solution for what was going on.”

Today, Austin is still thriving and inspiring the people around him.

“We didn’t know how long these procedures would provide benefit when we started doing them in kids like Austin,” Dr. Okun said. “So to see him doing so well over a decade-and-a-half-plus, it’s incredibly gratifying.”

Explore more inspiring patient stories and experience Human Progress Has No Finish Line campaign commercials at HumanProgress.UFHealth.org.