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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMichael J. Fox Losing ‘Heartbreaking’ Fight Against Parkinson’s Disease
In 1982, a struggling young Canadian-born actor named Michael J. Fox achieved his big breakthrough when he began a run portraying Alex P. Keaton, the conservative son of decidedly liberal parents Steven and Elyse Keaton, on the hit NBC sitcom Family Ties a role for which he garnered three consecutive Emmy awards as Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. A few years later, he leveraged that break into international stardom when he was cast (as a replacement for actor Eric Stoltz) to play Marty McFly, the lead character in the hugely popular 1985 adventure-comedy film Back to the Future.In 1991, however, when Fox was barely 30 and at the peak of his success, he sought medical treatment for a twitch in his finger, and the following year he received the devastating diagnosis of young-onset Parkinsons disease (PD), a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and is typically symptomized by involuntarily body movements and debilitating tremors (and is usually seen in people over the age of 60). Fox gamely concealed his condition while he continued working (primarily playing Mike Flaherty, the fictional Deputy Mayor of New York, in the ABC sitcom Spin City), but in 1998 he finally went public with the announcement that he was suffering from the disease and embarked upon a second career as a spokesperson and activist for Parkinson's research.
Despite his condition, Fox has soldiered on with his acting career, most recently starring as Mike Henry in NBC's The Michael J. Fox Show portraying a newscaster with Parkinson's who retires from work, and also playing a recurring role on the CBS drama The Good Wife as Louis Canning, an opposing counsel who suffers from tardive dyskinesia (involuntary visual tremors) and often uses his condition to his advantage by repeatedly calling attention to it in order to elicit sympathy during court appearances.
Some medications (or even brain surgery, which Fox underwent in 1998), can provide relief from PD symptoms, but they cannot completely check the progression of the disease. It's possible that in the not-too-distant future Michael J. Fox will, as Radar Online implied, lose the ability to walk on his own and require the use of a wheelchair and/or face the onset of dementia. But many different factors affect the timing and nature of PD's progression, and so it's impossible to predict exactly how and when any given individual will experience certain aspects of that progression.
Fox said he typically wakes up shaking uncontrollably, joking that he brushes his teeth with an electric toothbrush even though he doesn't own one.
http://www.snopes.com/2016/04/10/michael-j-fox-parkinsons/
Fred Drum
(293 posts)he doesn't want, nor need sympathy, just acknowledgment
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Fetal Stem cell research has decades of political delay in the USA. I don't think our American insurance will pay for any stem cell treatments and people wealthy enough can go to foreign countries to receive some treatments.
The only gene therapy research with positive research went out of business due to lack of funding. Their research did have positive results, but they are closed today.
AAV2-GAD gene therapy for advanced Parkinson's disease: a double-blind, sham-surgery controlled, randomised trial
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(11)70039-4/abstract
edited to add URL for Government listing for research gene therapy
https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00643890
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Even before he got sick , he held himself to a higher standard then many in Hollywood.
madokie
(51,076 posts)I hate this for him.
peace13
(11,076 posts)Sending love to you and your family. Thank you for showing us the way!
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)He has educated the public so well on this heartbreaking disease and he has helped millions who suffer with his inspiration and positive outlook.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)They were shooting still photos of him as he stood next to a hot dog cart, holding a hot dog with mustard. Somehow he managed to get mustard streaked across his cheek (must have been the Parkinson's) and jokingly yelled "Makeup!" Soon after he was ushered across the street surrounded by big bodyguards.
kysrsoze
(6,010 posts)He seemed OK when he was on Jimmy Kimmel for the Back to the Future anniversary. I hate to see people subjected to such hardship, but he's a trooper.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)Rush who takes someone else's Viagra to a child prostitution resort area and gets his oxycontin from his housekeeper/pharmacist.
Rush knows about medications for his own ailments.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Goes by fast, Rushbo.
Fritz Walter
(4,281 posts)...and all the Ditto-heads who still listen to him!
Saddened by the news of Mr. Fox. To paraphrase Bill Hicks (RIP), all our heroes are gone -- or going -- while these demons still roam the earth!
Initech
(99,909 posts)leftyladyfrommo
(18,815 posts)They said he is going downhill just like anyone with that disease but I don't think he's critical or anything.
greymouse
(872 posts)Just think if half the US federal budget didn't go to "defense." How about defense against Parkinson's, Alzheimers, cancer...
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)This Government funded gene therapy research even had such a positive result, they wanted to offer treatment to those in the study who didn't receive it- "blinded portion of the study will be invited to crossover".
Then doomsday- "This study has been terminated. (Due to financial reasons)"
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT00643890
Uncle Joe
(58,107 posts)Thanks for the thread, Sunlei.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Always enjoyed his characters, and most recently his role on The Good Wife.
Blue Idaho
(4,987 posts)I watched a dear friend disappear into dementia in three years. Though I know that isn't always how the disease presents itself, I hope MJF can prolong the inevitable as long as possible.
AwakeAtLast
(14,112 posts)It is truly heartbreaking.
Blue Idaho
(4,987 posts)Heartbreaking.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)My love, and tears go to you, Michael A. Fox.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)chose between the wheelchair and dementia I would take the wheelchair - it is a tool to be used to overcome a problem. That is how I think MJF will take it. Dementia is horrible.
Mary Mac
(323 posts)Great guy.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)and I know I'm not alone.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Thank you for all you have done for advocacy on Parkinson's. My dad died of it and I have an awareness of your situation and am amazed at all your have done.
deathrind
(1,786 posts)Episode of "Inside the Actors Studio" about him. Half way thru the show he had to take a break in order to get more medication to reduce the involuntary movements.
He is an extraordinary human. The world could use more people like him. Who knows where we might be today with treatment or potential cures for PD and other diseases had religion not been able to inject itself into politics.
RKP5637
(67,030 posts)bkkyosemite
(5,792 posts)Back to the Future was filmed where I lived.
fishwax
(29,146 posts)I've always enjoyed his acting, and everything I've heard has suggested he's a good guy all around.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)love him dearly
romanic
(2,841 posts)He's lived an amazing life and his activism speaks volumes on the need for a cure. I don't know too much about Parkinson's but it seems like our country could come up with something to treat it more effectively. If only we didn't put so much priority over defense and military spending...