How Michael J. Fox Accepted His Parkinson's Diagnosis, Defied The Odds, And Fought For A Cure
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While Filming ‘Doc Hollywood,’ He Noticed A Persistent Twitch
When Fox was filming Doc Hollywood in 1991, he noticed a persistent "twitch" in his left pinkie. At first, the 29-year-old Fox simply thought it was an effect of a bad hangover. Fox went to a local neurologist in Florida, where the movie was being filmed, to get the tremor checked out.
Initially, the neurologist believed that the shakiness stemmed from an ice hockey injury from Fox's youth in Canada. The actor continued filming as his condition continued, unaware of the medical battle that lied ahead.
He Was Diagnosed In 1991 After His Wife Noticed Something Was Wrong
If it weren't for Fox's wife, actress Tracy Pollan, his Parkinson's diagnosis may have come much later than it did. In 1991, when Fox was jogging through Martha's Vineyard, Pollan was alarmed by her husband's appearance. Fox recalled what she said to him when she spotted him trembling during his exercise: "Get in the car. You don't know what you look like. Your left side is not moving. Only the right side is moving. It doesn't look good."
A few days after this incident, Fox went to a neurologist in Manhattan, New York. His Parkinson's diagnosis came swiftly after the appointment.
He Sought Out Multiple Doctors Before Accepting His Diagnosis
When Fox was initially diagnosed, he did what anyone with a life-altering prognosis would do: He got a second opinion. And then several others after that. At 30 years old, too fit and too young, many doctors initially believed he was misdiagnosed. Fox told People that he "would not go in thinking, 'Oh, good, this one [new doctor] thinks maybe it's wrong,' I'd say, 'You'll see. This is it.' From the beginning, I wasn't frantic. I was pretty methodical."
Once Fox finally accepted his diagnosis, he did everything he could to research and understand what he was up against. He picked neurologists' brains and continued his own research as the condition continued to take a toll on his body.
When He Was Diagnosed, Doctors Told Him He Had 10 Years Of Work Left
On April 15, 2015, Fox appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. The actor opened up about his 1991 diagnosis and how the idea of having Parkinson's disease didn't even cross his mind. He also revealed that doctors didn't believe he had much time left for an active or fruitful career:
It was scary. I was 29 years old and so it was the last thing I expected to hear. I thought I’d hurt my shoulder doing some stunt because I had a twitch in my pinkie. And the doctor said "You have Parkinson’s disease." He said, "The good news is that you have 10 years of work left."
Fox defied expectations by getting back into his career long after his initial 1991 diagnosis. The actor has been acting for nearly 30 years since his first diagnosis.
Only A Small Circle Of Family And Friends Knew About The Disease
When Fox was first diagnosed in 1991, only a few close family members and friends were aware of his condition. Fox wasn't keen on making his ailment public information, as he felt that it might make people hesitant to hire him for future rolls. Aside from his wife, his mother, and his siblings, not many were privvy to his condition.
He continued to work in features, and when he was approached about Spin City in 1996, Fox made sure that those he was working closely with - specifically producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and ABC president Bob Iger - were aware of his condition. "I said it could get very bad or not get bad," Fox told People. "They said, 'Let's go.'"
After His Diagnosis, He Coped By Drinking Heavily Before Eventually Getting On The Wagon
Fox is open about the fact he had been something of a heavy drinker before his Parkinson's diagnosis. When he officially received his diagnosis, he found himself drinking even more than usual.
Speaking with The Guardian, Fox revisited the moment when he knew he had to give up alcohol. A year after his diagnosis, Fox woke up groggy on the couch after a night of binge drinking. Half-empty beer cans were strewn around him, and his son was climbing on him. Fox's wife didn't seem disgusted with his actions, but rather, indifferent. This is when he knew he had to make a change:
I was so... it really is a course correction - at that point in my life, when I got Parkinson's, I had to look at the way I was living: the drinking. It wasn't like a little warning sign at the side of the road. It was a big caution in flashing lights. I don't know that I would have the family that I have now, the life I have, the sense of purpose, if none of this had happened.
