Tremor Gram – December 2025

Still Honeyman Documentary Online Now

The IETF is pleased to announce the public release of the documentary film, Still Honeyman. It tells the inspiring story of Mark Honeyman, a Michiganian who has lived with essential tremor (ET) for more than 45 years. Still Honeyman captures Mark’s efforts to understand and address his tremors as he faces deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery.

The film was produced by J.R. Heffelfinger of Runaway Horses LLC and Alex Walters of Patina Ventures LLC, in partnership with the IETF. It premiered for a two-week period in April of this year and now is available for viewing online.

Resiliency, spirituality, trust, and belief in medical innovation are underlying themes in the film. It also underscores the significant impact of human connection and community support in confronting life’s challenges.

As you watch the film, help us spread awareness of the film, and in turn, essential tremor, by:

• Liking the film on YouTube
• Adding a comment,
• Sharing the link with friends and family
• Subscribing to the channel so you’ll know when new content – such as behind-the-scenes interviews or recorded Q&A sessions – are uploaded to the channel.
• Reviewing it on Letterboxd – rate and review our film here: https://letterboxd.com/film/still-honeyman/

More Support, Connection and Hope in the New Year

Generous support from donors all over the world is the reason the International Essential Tremor Foundation (IETF) exists. Our mission is to provide hope to the essential tremor (ET) community through awareness, education, support and research. Did you know that 82% of our revenue comes from direct donor contributions?

As 2025 comes to a close, help us plan for a successful new year.

Your generous contribution, of any size, will support real change and make a tangible difference in the year ahead. With your help, we can:

• Connect more people to ET resources and our compassionate IETF community
• Create greater understanding through increased awareness and education
• Help students with ET achieve their goals through the IETF scholarship program
• Fund vital research to discover treatments and, ultimately, a cure for ET

Thank you, for helping us provide more support, connection and hope in the new year.

From the board of directors and the IETF staff, have a joyous holiday season!

Learn about Therapy for Vocal Tremor

We’ve added another Essential Tremor Virtual Education Event to our online library of educational resources.

ET and SPEAK OUT! Therapy is presented Hilary Byatt, M.S., CCC-SLP, speech/language pathologist and chief operating officer of the Parkinson Voice Project. SPEAK OUT! Therapy helps people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other related disorders like vocal essential tremor, regain and retain their speech and swallowing.

This therapy works to improve shaky and hoarse voice, pitch breaks, softer voices and difficulty modulating intonation and pitch.

Research Study Recruitment

Physiologic Correlates of Vocal Tremor Affecting Those with Essential Tremor

Two Locations:

• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
• Mass Eye & Ear, Boston, MA

Essential tremor is one of the most common movement disorders in the world. Approximately 30% of these individuals exhibit a vocal tremor, with the majority being female. This study will evaluate mechanisms of vocal tremor and their effects on communication, with the goal of advancing current and future treatments.

Eligible participants must have essential tremor and vocal tremor and be willing to travel to Utah or Massachusetts (compensation and travel included).

For the Utah study, please contact Jessica Ku (Clinical Research Coordinator) at Jessica.ku@hsc.utah.edu

For the Massachusetts study, please contact the Simonyan Lab at simonyan_lab@meei.harvard.edu

Study of Familial Characteristics of ET with Identical Twins

Dr. Elan Louis and his team of tremor researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) are conducting a new study of familial characteristics of essential tremor (ET). They need help from the ET community. If you have ET and have an identical (monozygotic) twin sister/brother with ET, please contact the UTSW researchers at the following email address: tremor@utsouthwestern.edu

Please include your contact information in your message (including your name, telephone, and mailing address) and the preferred way to contact you.

Both you and your identical twin sister/brother would be interested in answering questions about your tremor and provide us with a videotape performing daily tasks like using a spoon or drinking from a glass (instructions will be provided).

You and your sibling may live anywhere in the United States and still qualify to participate; all interviews will be conducted via phone and mail.