Michael J. Fox Gives Health Update Amid Parkinson's Battle

Michael J. Fox has shared a health update on the eve of a noteworthy milestone. He and his wife, Tracy Pollan, met on Family Ties in the 1980s and will celebrate their 35th anniversary in July with the A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's gala, Entertainment Tonight reported. The Oct. 29 benefit in New York City will feature Jim Gaffigan, Samantha Bee, Brad Paisley, and more, hosted by Denis Leary. Funds from the event will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. In 1991, Fox was 29 years old when diagnosed with Parkinson's. During the last two decades, he has raised more than $1.5 billion for funding research and raising awareness of the disease. At 61, Fox described himself as feeling "good," although every day poses new challenges. 

"I don't think there's anything like a typical day at all, ever," he told Entertainment Tonight. "Not to get too heavy about it, my health issues have given me every different day, so it's been how I deal with that. It can be different, but consistently, it's good. I mean, I love my family, I love my work, I love my situation, I'm happy." Fox's said his ability to think of "the alternative" helps keep him optimistic. "The alternative isn't good," he noted, "so, no, I just love life, and it's a matter of acceptance. The more you accept, the more you are grateful for it because you see the contrast between what's good and what's not and what you have in your life. My family, my career, and the people I meet every day." 

As a result of his tendency to converse with strangers while out and about in New York, Fox's wife Pollan even calls him "Mr. Mayor." He says his love of people drives his foundation. "It's so humbling to have started this more than 20 years ago in 2000 with the idea of advancing research in Parkinson's, finding a cure, hopefully, and what we discovered along the way is that you can't do anything without the patients," he said. "For so long, the patients were the neglected part of the process and it happens in all kinds of disease studies and disease research, that they tend to hurry past the patient to try to find the answer." 

He continued, "I'm an actor, I'm like a goofball, and I stumbled into this situation -- not that anyone wanted to design for themselves -- but I recognized it immediately as a real opportunity. All these people coming to me, relaying their stories and identifying with mine -- and empathy and sympathy all combined ... We don't get this opportunity very often. So I do my best to seize it and grab some people that were smart, and we launched into it." Speaking on his "interesting life" with Pollan, Fox gushed of his long-time partner, "She's smart, and she loves me, and she's protective, and she's everything." Together, he and Pollan have four children: son Sam, 33; twin daughters Schuyler and Aquinnah, 27; and daughter Esme, 20. "The kids are great, and it's her fault," he joked. "It has nothing to do with me." 

0comments