I have always been a fan of his since the sitcom “Family Ties”, which my family would watch together. He played a conservative Republican teenager in a house with very liberal parents. It was very funny. Of course he was in “Back to the Future” movies and some others that I can’t remember the names of. He was 29 years old when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This was before I was diagnosed with MS.
He left acting for awhile and then came back stronger than ever, guest starring in roles on “Rescue Me,” and “The Good Wife,” both of which I watched. He played memorable and even unlikable characters, but his Parkinson’s was front and center. It is an inspiration that even with this chronic disease, he can do what he loves. He set up one if not the leading charity, “The Michael J. Fox Foundation,”, which has great success helping to fight this disease.
Other things to admire; his family, the love and dedication of his wife, good friends, a great sense of humor, his humbleness and of course he is a rocker, playing guitar and joining with other rockers! I love that.
The reason I’m bringing him up at all us because I saw an interview with him and Willie Geist, (a journalist with NBC, a co-anchor of ” Morning Joe”, has a show on Sunday mornings, “Sunday’s Today with Willie Geist.”) Anyway he said something that struck me. When Willie asked him, “do you ever get tired of people asking how you are,,” Michael responded, “no, I don’t, people mean well and I appreciate that, BUT if you really want to know how I am, pull up a bench and I can tell you how I really feel.”
Wow, that said a lot to me. Think about it, does this ever happen with you? For myself, I have a couple of friends that really want to know, but most people don’t,, which is understandable. I’m sure as hell not going to give an acquaintance the run down of what I’m going through. Unfortunately my husband is one of the ones who doesn’t want to know and that hurts.
Whatever chronic disease your dealing with, there are common denominators. I find it very helpful to learn how other people deal with their limitations, as you can see from other references I’ve made to inspirational story tellers. I tend to admire more honest ones, which don’t paint a rosy picture and all positive aspects of their illness. I want to hear of the hard parts too.