PLEASANTVILLE, Pa. — It takes effort to run a 13-acre farm, but 39-year-old Nicole LaBolle makes it look easy.
She loves her life and the people in it: Her beloved husband Travis and daughters Willa and Fawn, and their horses, dogs, chickens and kittens, too.
There's so much love and gratitude around their home, you may be shocked to learn that just a year and a half ago, life wasn't manageable for Nicole.
"I didn't have motor skills. Stupid things like tying your shoes, couldn't do it," she told us. "I got to a point where if I struggled to cook dinner, by the time I was done, I couldn't eat it because my tremor was so bad."
That's because when Nicole was just 28 years old, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"I never quit moving. So it was just exhausting to exist," Nicole said.
Her girls had beautiful hair that she couldn't braid. At one point, helping with bath time wasn't an option.
"Especially when they're little, I was too nervous," she said.
She relied on family to help, especially Travis, whose dirtbike accident at 19 left him with a paralyzed arm. Still, they pulled together as a team.
"It took both of us to change that newborn diaper, you know?" Nicole said through laughs.
Yet, as a loving, young mom, all Nicole wanted to do -- was do it herself.
"They needed me, you know, and it wasn't fair to them," she said through tears.
Then in 2022, a breakthrough: DBS, which stands for deep brain stimulation, a surgery where two electrodes are placed on each side of the brain, to manage symptoms of Parkinson's. Nicole decided it was time and made the two and a half hour drive to the Cleveland Clinic.
"God lined everything up for me, perfect. I had the best surgeon, I had great nurses. I had the best anesthesiologist," she said.
And the best DBS programmer, nurse practitioner Shannon Shaffer.
"I very vividly remember asking, 'What do you wanna be able to do if we can give you some of your ability back? Like, what are your goals? '" Shannon said. "She said, 'I just want to be normal and I want to be able to braid my daughter's hair and help them tie their shoes and be a mom.'"
In December 2022, Nicole was on her way.
"When I woke up from my surgeries and stuff, I wasn't moving," she remembered. "It was the first time in years that I did not shake, twitch, wiggle, or move. And it was just so, so amazing."
Suddenly, all that Nicole had lost as a mom, came back.
"My kids called me 'New Mommy 2.0,' you know? They're so excited for me," Nicole said.
And so is Shannon, for whom Nicole is forever grateful.
"I can see better and I can speak clearer because she just tweaked my program a little bit," Nicole said.
"That makes me emotional because I saw myself in her and I tried to feel what it would feel like 'cause we're the same age and have kids the same age," Shannon said through tears. "There's nothing better than going to work. And knowing that you can do that for people."
For Travis, the transformation has been extraordinary.
"It's amazing. I mean, what she had to go through before, it's completely life changing," he said.
Now, every new day on the farm is a gift, filled with acts of love that for years felt out of reach. She loves her life, and the people in it.
"Have faith. The Lord has a plan for you. You may not like the journey, but that's your journey, and it'll work out the way it's supposed to," Nicole said.
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