‘I could no longer vibrato’: Meet the cellist who turned her Parkinson’s diagnosis into action

Her community orchestra had just returned to practice after 2 years away during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Abigail could no longer ‘vibrato’, it’s the subtle left-hand wobble that gives cello its warmth and expression.

She put it down to lack of practise. Nearly 2 years without playing, after all.  

She was wrong. But it would take another 2 years before she would find out why. 

By any measure, Abigail’s life is full. She co-parents 2 young daughters, runs her own consultancy business, plays in the orchestra, tends to a garden and a collection of indoor plants, and somewhere in between finds time for yoga, camping, hiking, baking, cross-stitch, audiobooks and making new friends. 

‘I’m a pretty busy person,’ she said, with considerable understatement. 

So, when a toe started curling during a training walk as part of preparation for a 45-kilometre charity walk, it was easy to explain away. Long-distance walking does strange things to one’s feet, she thought. 

Then her left side started moving slower than her right. Her left foot made odd, involuntary movements while she was playing cello or driving. Still, she wondered if she was imagining it. 

At a neurology appointment, the doctor pointed out something Abigail hadn’t noticed: her left arm wasn’t swinging when she walked. 

‘That was the moment I realised there was actually something going on,’ she said.  

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD). 

By that point, she had largely stopped using her left leg as a functioning limb.  

‘I was pretty much using it as a stump,’ she said. ‘I had lost the automatic ability to walk.’ 

She started medication immediately and the improvement was rapid. But the journey had already left its mark. The way she had been walking had damaged her foot, and she spent weeks in a moon boot. 

‘That made me very visible,’ she recalled. ‘A lot of people asked how I got injured.’ 

Stepping into research 

What came next surprised Abigail. 

Rather than stepping back from the uncertainty of a new diagnosis, she leaned into it, signing up for 3 clinical trials. 

The first, a feasibility study at La Trobe University, had her doing supervised weight training at a Box Hill gym twice a week for 8 weeks. The conditions were careful, no stairs, long rests between exercises, but it was a start. 

The second was a phase one drug trial at the Alfred Hospital for a compound called LBT-3627. It involved a 3-night inpatient stay and daily visits for dosing and blood tests. One visit lasted 10 hours. 

The third, and the one she wants other people to know about, was a collaboration between the Bionics Institute and Monash Health, investigating whether gentle stimulation applied to the feet could improve the way people with Parkinson’s walk. 

‘My very lay person understanding,’ she said, ‘is that they were looking at whether buzzing your feet in a particular pattern could help with gait.’ 

For 5 consecutive mornings, Abigail attended Kingston Centre in Heatherton and had small vibrating devices attached to her feet for 2 hours at a time. Before those sessions, researchers established a baseline, attaching sensors to her head, asking her to walk across a mat, and recording her brain activity. 

‘The baseline day was the most intense,’ she said. ‘They had probes on my head and I had to stare at a blank wall for 5 minutes at a time. Which sounds simple but is actually quite hard.’ 

Abigail found out about the Monash Health trial the way she finds out about most things now: through the community she has built around her diagnosis. 

‘I have this whole network of friends I’ve made through the Parkinson’s world,’ she said. ‘We share information. Someone hears about a trial, they pass it on. That’s how it works.’ 

It is a network she didn’t expect to need, and one she has come to value deeply, alongside her friends, her family, her children and puppy. 

For Abigail, the ask is simple. 

‘If you have Parkinson’s and you’re able to participate in research, just do it. The trials need people. And you might be surprised, it’s not as daunting as it sounds. I’ve met incredible people through every single one.’ 

Seeking trial participants 

Dr Anna Murphy, a biomechanist and the principal investigator of the peripheral stimulation as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease gait impairments trial, says Abigail was among the first cohort of participants to receive the intervention while not on their Parkinson’s disease medication, and the results are expected to be published in 2027. 

Dr Murphy and her team are currently amending the study protocol so that the next cohort of participants receives the intervention while on their medication.  

‘Preliminary analysis of the first cohort of data suggests substantial improvements in gait. We now want to determine if receiving the stimulation while on PD medication results in similar gait improvements,’ she said. 

Her team plans to start recruitment again in September 2026 for another 14 participants.  

If you are someone with Parkinson’s disease who experiences walking difficulties, are under 85, have no other neurological conditions, and are interested in participating, contact anna.murphy2@monashealth.org or (03) 9265 1453. 

Participants will be expected to attend an initial 3-hour assessment, followed by 5 consecutive daily sessions and 2 follow-up visits, all at Kingston Centre in Heatherton. 

To receive more stories like this direct to your inbox, subscribe to Research Matters, Monash Health’s quarterly research newsletter.