Hollywood star Michael J. Fox has opened up about his thoughts on his own mortality in a revealing interview where he discussed living with - and realising he would die with - Parkinson's. The 61 year old makes the heartbreaking acknowledgement that he doesn’t expect to reach his 80th birthday due to the disease.
Michael was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s back in 1991 when he was just 29 - and he went public with the news nine years later. After decades of campaigning, raising funds and awareness of the condition, Michael is set to appear in a number of interviews to discuss how he has experienced life with Parkinson’s, reports the Mirror.
A preview of his CBS Sunday Morning interview has shown him stating: "My life is set up so...I can pack Parkinson's along with me if I have to.” The actor goes on to explain that the disease made him reassess his approach to life and states: "You don’t die from Parkinson's. You die with Parkinson’s.”
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He goes on to explain that those suffering from the disease are at risk of injuries, like falling, choking, or getting sick with a cold which can, in turn, prove fatal. Heartbreakingly, he added: "I've been thinking about the mortality of it… I’m not gonna be 80."
Earlier this week, Michael explained to Entertainment Tonight that the work his Michael J. Fox Foundation does has been aiming to improve the lives of others at risk of the disease. He highlighted that his teams are working to devise new ways to detect and treat Parkinson’s.
He said: “The idea of a biomarker… a way to identify the disease before the disease is present. “By the time I was diagnosed, I had a little twitch in my pinky but...with this, we can identify the disease really early and help progression and essentially cure ahead of the game."
He did explain that he does struggle with his own condition. He told the outlet: “I’m not going to lie, it's getting hard, it's getting harder.
"Every day is tougher. But, but that's — that's the way it is." A documentary titled Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is due to air on Apple TV+ next month and will show the Back to the Future actor exploring and discussing his condition.
Clips from the documentary have been shown to highlight the show - including the star discussing how his wife, Tracy Pollan, reacted when he got his diagnosis. He recalls she whispered "in sickness and in health" after he revealed the news of his diagnosis.
The couple met on the set of "Family Ties" in 1985 when Tracy was cast as his character's love interest, and the pair later married in 1988. The couple share four children together; a son named Sam, twin daughters Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances, and another daughter named Esmé Annabelle.
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