Michael J. Fox celebrated his sixty-second birthday in June.
He’s been living with Parkinson’s disease more than half his life. In
interviews, he describes what that’s like. His first symptoms were a twitching
finger and a sore shoulder. Later, there were tremors and slurred speech and muscle
rigidity. More recently, there have been falls and broken bones. “That’s is a
big killer with Parkinson's – falling and aspirating food and getting
pneumonia. You don't die from Parkinson's; you die WITH Parkinson's. I'm not
gonna be 80.” But he has a deliberately positive attitude. "I recognize
how hard this is for people, and I recognize how hard it is for me. But I have
a certain set of skills that allow me to deal with this stuff. And I realized,
with gratitude, optimism is sustainable. And if you can find something to be grateful
for, then you can find something to look forward to, and you carry on."
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