Michael J. Fox says Parkinson’s battle getting ‘harder’: ‘I’m not gonna be 80’

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https://pagesix.com/2023/04/29/micha...etting-harder/

Michael J. Fox is coming to terms with how difficult his more than 30-year battle with Parkinson’s disease has become.

“I’m not gonna be 80,” the “Back to the Future” star, 61, recognizes in a preview for an upcoming episode of “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Journalist Jane Pauley tells Fox in the clip that he has “not squandered” but that his illness will one day “make the call” as to when it’s his time to go.

“Yeah, it’s, it’s banging on the door,” the “Family Ties” alum says in response.

“I’m not gonna lie. It’s gettin’ hard, it’s gettin’ harder. It’s gettin’ tougher. Every day it’s tougher"

Fox then explains that he had surgery to remove a benign tumor on his spine, but the procedure “messed up” his walking and so he started to “break” other parts of his body, including his arm, elbow, face and hand.

He adds that the “big killer” of Parkinson’s disease is “falling” and can also be “aspirating food and getting pneumonia,” noting it is “all these subtle ways that gets ya.”

“You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s,” the “Spin City” alum concludes.

“So – so I’ve been – I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it.”

Fox was diagnosed with the brain disorder at the young age of 29.

He has since become a leading advocate for research for the condition, even launching the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to help educate the public and fund studies.

Two years ago, the “Secret of My Success” star shared that he does not fear death.

“I’m really blunt with people about cures. When they ask me if I will be relieved of Parkinson’s in my lifetime, I say, ‘I’m 60 years old, and science is hard. So, no,’” Fox said in an AARP magazine profile in December 2021.

“I am genuinely a happy guy. I don’t have a morbid thought in my head — I don’t fear death. At all.”

Fox’s full interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” airs April 30 at 9 a.m. ET.

[PaperClips]

I really feel for him. He seems like a really good person who got dealt a bad hand. Just watching him exhausts me - I can't imagine moving that much constantly. It must just wear him out physically.

[Chocolate Moose]

Wow. Terrible.

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I don't mean to sound morbid, but were Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's symptoms very apparent or obvious in hindsight? I don't think that he officially went public with his diagnosis until 1998 (he was first diagnosed with it back in 1991 though), which was at that point, when Spin City had already been on the air for over a year and a half.

I suppose looking back, Michael's movements are initially jerky and stiff and then it becomes more pronounced as the producers tried to accommodate the disease without drawing attention to it.

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Originally Posted by PaperClips

I really feel for him. He seems like a really good person who got dealt a bad hand. Just watching him exhausts me - I can't imagine moving that much constantly. It must just wear him out physically.

I recently saw footage of Michael J. Fox presenting at the BAFTAs (which is basically, the British equivalent to the Academy Awards) and I'm reminded of how how much his condition has really deteriorated. It's now a major challenge for him to walk, stand-up straight, and maintain his balance. At the BAFTAs, he had to be brought out to the podium on a wheelchair.

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Originally Posted by PaperClips

I really feel for him. He seems like a really good person who got dealt a bad hand. Just watching him exhausts me - I can't imagine moving that much constantly. It must just wear him out physically.

I agree and then there's a mental aspect to his disease. At some point, he will be done and he's already at peace with dying.

Others may disagree, but I think he was the hardest working actor in Hollywood between 1985 and 1990. I just can't help but think that all that work took a toll on his body and perhaps damaged his body's natural immunity to disease.