Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s foundation makes breakthrough in early disease detection

"I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not going to lie, it’s getting hard, it’s getting harder. Every day is tougher. But that’s the way it is." Photo / 123rf

Actor Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with the brain disorder Parkinson’s disease - which causes uncontrollable movements such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and co-ordination - when he was aged 30. Now 61, he admits he has been thinking about his own “mortality” in recent times.

Speaking in a preview clip for his upcoming appearance on CBS Sunday Mornings, he said: “My life is set up so ... I can pack Parkinson’s along with me if I have to.

“You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s. I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it.

Michael J. Fox set up a foundation in 2000 that aims to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Photo / 123rf

“I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not going to lie, it’s getting hard, it’s getting harder. Every day is tougher. But that’s the way it is.”

In 2000, the Back to the Future star set up the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which aims to find a cure for the disease, and he recently explained his team at the charity had helped in the breakthrough that has found a biomarker for Parkinson’s.

He told Entertainment Tonight: “It’s 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.”

Earlier this year, Fox insisted that despite his health struggles, he “didn’t have time to feel sorry” for himself.

Speaking after a screening of his documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie at the South by Southwest Film Festival, he was asked how he “mobilised” people to care about Parkinson’s. “I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “This is it. I have to give everything I have, and it’s not lip service. I show up and do the best I can.

”Pity is a benign form of abuse. I can feel sorry for myself, but I don’t have time for that. There is stuff to be learned from this, so let’s do that and move on.”