When people heard that Michael J. Fox had Parkinson’s disease, they were all shocked. In fact, the actor said that he was very sad when he first heard about it. He was not happy about this news.
He drank too much and felt sad, so he died. He didn’t talk to anyone for seven years. Soon, he saw how important it was to help other people.
This is when he started to become one of the most well-known people in the world who fight for Parkinson’s disease. He spent most of it working to pay for research into a cure for the disease. His illness is a secret, but he still shows love and respect to people who have the disease.
In an interview, he said, “After I told people about my diagnosis in 1998, I started to realize that Parkinson’s gives you two things to think about.” You have to deal with both the condition itself and how people think about it. I could easily pick up on the way people looked into my eyes and saw their own fears reflected back.
I’d tell them, “I’m doing great,” because I really was. After a while, the difference between how I felt and how scared people seemed to be made me laugh.
When he found out he had the disease, a lot of people reached out to him to help. But one phone call made everything different. He will never forget it. He said, “I was at home when Muhammad Ali called. And in this raspy, paper-thin voice, he said, “Aahhhh… We’ll win this fight now that you’re in it, Michael. “What can I say?”
Instead of worrying about what was going to happen, he decided to move on. The Michael J. Fox Foundation was his idea. This helps people who also have Parkinson’s disease. This foundation did a good job of giving financial and emotional support to patients. It also gives other people a chance to help. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has raised $700 million to help find a cure for Parkinson’s. This also helped get the word out in ways that were hard to imagine.
He said, “Something funny happened. Doctors tried to help me. I also talked to doctors. More importantly, people with Parkinson’s reached out to me, and I felt better and more confident right away because I knew there were people who knew what I was going through. It also gave me the chance to meet doctors, specialists, and researchers from all over the country.
Fox’s health isn’t great, but he said that it doesn’t hurt as much these days. He said, “My symptoms are annoying to look at, but none of them hurt. The only real pain I have is in my feet, which sometimes shuffle and curl up in cramps while I sleep. That’s why I keep a pair of very stiff shoes on the floor next to my bed.”
Parkinson’s disease still has no cure to this day. But his doctors were able to find a combination of medicines that helps him the most. This helped him feel better than when he first found out he had the disease.
Even though he was sick, he didn’t let it stop him from working in the entertainment business. He also made sure that, when he had the chance, he told people about his health, his Foundation, and how he really felt about the disease.