OCTOBER 28 • 2021 | 27

Details
This year’s Trade Secrets 
event will be in hybrid form, 
emceed by Fox 2’s Amy 
Lange, and offering options 
of a limited in-person evening 
dinner Nov. 11 at Detroit 
Marriott Troy starting at 6.30 
p.m. with only six people per 
table, or an online streamed 
version of the event, starting 
at 7.30 p.m. 
Online attendees will 
receive a personalized box 
of snacks plus a small bot-
tle of champagne and party 
favors. For those attending in 
person, there will be a sticker 
system in place so individ-
uals who want to maintain 
a social distance will feel at 
ease. 
Whether in-person or 
attending virtually, the event 
offers the opportunity to pur-
chase raffle tickets with out-
standing prizes including a 
$2,500 Somerset Collection 
gift certificate, $1,500-worth 
of skinnytees apparel and an 
$800-value phone consulta-
tion with acclaimed spiritual 
medium Rebecca Rosen, 
along with a signed copy of 
her book. 
To date, the 2021 Trade 
Secrets has raised more than 
$232,000 through sponsor-
ship and ticket sales. 
Presenting sponsors are 
Connie Holzer from Tom 
Holzer Ford, and Shari and 
Stanley Finsilver; Platinum 
Sponsors are Artichoke 
Garlic Foundation and DeRoy 
Testamentary Foundation; 
Diamond Sponsors are 
Moscow Family Fund and 
skinnytees; and the Emerald 
Sponsor is Huntington Bank. 
For information on spon-
sorship opportunities and 
tickets, which start at $150 
per person, email Reisa 
Shanaman at rshanaman@
jvshumanservices.org or call 
(248) 233-4213. 

feeding them with a spoon was difficult. 
As the children got older there were 
other challenges. “My daughter was a 
dancer and if she was in a dance recital 
I could never do her make up,” explains 
Finsilver, a member of Temple Israel.
As her life progressed so, unfortu-
nately, did Finsilver’s tremors. While ET 
was originally confined to her arms and 
hands, by her 40s, essential tremor was 
now affecting her head and voice. 
In 1996, a TV program about Deep 
Brain Stimulation (DBS) being offered 
to patients at University of Kansas 
Medical Center aired, and the surgery 
offered Finsilver hope. She didn’t hes-
itate. Then 46, she got on a plane to 
visit the surgeon in Kansas City, who 
informed her that help was actually clos-
er to home. Dr. Peter LeWitt, a neurol-
ogist in Michigan, was working with a 
neurosurgeon recruited to start a similar 
DBS program at Henry Ford Hospital in 
Detroit. 
In 1999, Finsilver faced the daunting 
prospect of having the surgery per-
formed while she was awake, so that the 
surgeon knew where to place the elec-
trodes for the stimulator. Amazingly, she 
remained calm, choosing to look at the 
procedure as if she was taking part in a 

science experiment, which in some ways 
she was, as during surgery she was asked 
to follow commands like bring a cup 
back and forth to her lips to see if the 
surgeons were in the right part of the 
thalamus. For her family and friends, it 
was a different story. “They were all bas-
ket cases,” she admits.
Finsilver credits a book called Prepare 
for Surgery, Heal Faster: A Guide for Mind-
Body Techniques by Peggy Huddleston, 
for helping her both prepare and recover 
from DBS. “It was a relaxation visualiza-
tion method, and I practiced it for two 
and a half months, twice a day,” Shari 
said. The premise is that if your stress 
levels are decreased there are better sur-
gical outcomes,” she explains. On occa-
sion, she even called the author directly 
for advice. 
In addition, prior to her surgery, 
the International Essential Tremor 
Foundation (IETF) put her in touch 
with a 29-year-old farmer in Iowa who 
had undergone the surgery and who 
answered her questions. The surgery 
was successful, with Finsilver seeing 
noticeable improvement in her symp-
toms. She was able to resume many 
more activities, even taking up ballroom 
dancing and becoming so skilled that 

Shari Finsilver recovering 
after surgery with friend 
Linda Schmier, son Brett 
Finsilver and daughter Amy 
Ben-Ezra

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