Michael J. Fox can be seen addressing in the preview of an interview with CBS Sunday Morning’s Jane Pauley, which will air on April 30th, his 30-year-old battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Michael J. Fox, in a recent interview, showed concern about his life, as he has been speculating about life and death a lot ever since he was affected by Parkinson’s disease. The actor has been dealing with this disease for almost 30 years now.
Canadian-American activist
Michael J. Fox is an actor, an activist, a television producer, and a writer. He was born on July 9, 1961. Michael became a prominent celebrity after his role as Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties. It wasn’t his first acting gig, which needs to be mentioned as he was given special mention by the critics.
Before retiring, Michael had the chance to act in several other movies in the 1980s and 1990s, such as ‘The Secret of My Success’ (1987), ‘Doc Hollywood’ (1991), ‘Teen Wolf’ (1985), ‘Casualties of War” (1989), and ‘The Frighteners’ (1996). He is renowned for his role as a protagonist in the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy (1985–1990), where he played the role of Marty McFly.
In his whole acting career, Michael won two Screen Actors Guild Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and the most prestigious Grammy Award. He later became a patron for the cure of Parkinson’s disease, received an honorary doctorate from the Karolinska Institute in 2010, and received an Oscar in 2022.
Due to his declining health, Michael had to retire in 2021, when he was still at the peak of his career. Because of his worsening symptoms, he reduced his acting pursuits in movies but continued appearing in several commercials and television programmes, such as “Spin City’.
Trials of Parkinson’s disease
Michael Andrew Fox, popularly known as Michael J. Fox, was diagnosed shortly after he began experiencing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease during the shooting of the 1991 film ‘Doc Hollywood’ in 1991. Since Parkinson’s disease includes genetic and environmental factors, it is quite tedious to observe its symptoms in the initial stages.
The initial symptoms of Parkinson’s disease experienced by Michael were sore shoulders and twitching fingers, and shortly after, he was informed that he wouldn’t be able to work after a few years. The shock this statement would entail is beyond description, as at that time Michael was at the pinnacle of his career.
Soon after being diagnosed with this impairment, Michael started drinking heavily and went through a phase of depression, for obvious reasons. But he sought help immediately and stopped drinking altogether. He made a public announcement in 1998, became a huge advocate of Parkinson’s disease, and created his own foundation, “The Michael J. Fox Foundation,” where the main priority was to examine and cure Parkinson’s disease.
Since 2010, to uncover and discover the biological markers of this disease with the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), he has led a $100 million effort, which is of course considered the Foundation’s landmark observational study.
Dubious Mortality
After all that has been experienced by Michael J. Fox, he wrote a book, “Lucky Man,” in which he explains his struggles with drinking and his advocacy for people suffering from this disease. He elaborates on how he spent the initial few years in denial and why it wasn’t the most wise decision to make.
In a recent interview, he said that “you don’t die from Parkinson’s disease; you die with Parkinson’s disease”. The 61-year-old actor revealed in an upcoming session with CBS Sunday Mornings that lately he has been contemplating his whole situation and thinking about the concepts of life and death. He believes that he won’t make it to 80.
The actor and activist further mentions his hardships and how tough it is getting day by day to carry on with life hand in hand with this ongoing physical and mental inability.
