In an interview with hosts on UK talk show programme Loose Women, to promote awareness around Parkinson’s in the UK, Sinha, 54, discussed how he first came to learn he may have the degenerative disease after being diagnosed at 49 following a trip to New Zealand.
“I was diagnosed in May 2019, but I feel that it started a couple years previous to that,” Sinha told the talk show hosts.
Sinha - known on The Chase as The Sinnerman - spoke of Parkinson’s “surprise symptoms”, saying most people only know of the “shakes” but aren’t aware the disease has other, less common effects on the body.
He eventually had surgery in January 2019, but his symptoms “didn’t get any better”.
It wasn’t until Sinha met with a “hero” physiotherapist who recognised the warning signs that he was able to put his finger on his symptoms being a result of Parkinson’s.
“She was the one that had the courage to say, ‘I think something neurological might be going on’,” Sinha said.
“This is a year and a half after I presented [symptoms]”.
Sinha began suspecting his symptoms were linked to Parkinson’s disease after he began to “limp” during a trip to New Zealand for the New Zealand Comedy Festival in May 2019.
“In a taxi on the way from Wellington Airport to my hotel, I googled ‘Parkinson’s’ plus ‘frozen shoulder’ and just got the shock of my life,” he said.
Paul Sinha told hosts of ITV's Loose Women that he began suspecting he had Parkinson's while visiting New Zealand in 2019. Photo / ITV
“This mass of medical literature saying, ‘This is what you’ve got’.”
Sinha said it was a relief to have his diagnosis, knowing now that his symptoms had stemmed from the neurological disorder.
“What it’s done is given me a diagnosis which I kind of know that I’ve got time to ‘do the bucket list things’.”
But he joked that he’d never made a bucket list in the first place.
“I’d just come back from New Zealand and New Zealand Comedy Festival, I was having the time of my life.”
Sinha told hosts he’s tried to “just get on with it”, saying “you learn to adapt” while being aware that it’s there.
However, he expressed gratitude at the fact he doesn’t work a nine-to-five.
Being a self-employed entertainer, Sinha said he can plan his sleep routine around his work schedule to make sure he’s “fully rested” for the job.
The Chasers, from left: Shaun Wallace, Darragh Ennis, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan, and Mark Labbett.
He also plays an online speed quiz every day at 6pm called Tea Time Trivia to keep his brain sharp - although he told hosts he remains worried about his cognitive function declining.
“It’s something that’s always on your mind because my brain is my tool,” Sinha said.
“If I become more physically disabled, I’ll still be able to do the Chase and I’ll still be able to do stand-up comedy.
“But if I become more cognitively disabled, then those things are kind of out of the question for me.”
Sinha previously told the Daily Star that he refuses to let his diagnosis “define him”, telling the outlet that his own experience navigating work while battling the disease shows “there’s no limit to what you feel you’re able to do”.
“I’m trying to prove to the world that Parkinson’s doesn’t have to be the end of somebody’s story, that you can carry on doing the things you love,” Sinha said.
“The important thing is to not let it define you.”
