Thoughts on Michael J. Fox’s Determination through Parkinson’s Disease

Always Looking Up              ‘

The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

By Michael J. Fox                                                

262 pages.  Sony Publishing.  $25.99  

          Thoughts on Michael J. Fox’s Determination through Parkinson’s Disease

          By Jeffrey Taylor

First and foremost, I must admit that I’ve been a fan of Michael J. Fox’s work ever since I first learned how to walk.  I’m still a fan of television shows and films that he starred in such as: “Family Ties, Spin City, The Secret of My Success, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf etc.  There have not been too many actors who possess both dramatic intensity and great comedic talent when they are performing.  So in other words, it was an honor to be able to read “Always Looking Up”, which touches on Michael J. Fox’s earlier career, later career, life as well as his battles with Parkinson’s disease.  There aren’t too many authors who are gifted at giving their readers a great and entertaining peak into their personal lives.  Michael J. Fox does a tremendous job in keeping his readers involved in his story and using his disease as more of a motivational device than a handicap.

On many different occasions in certain people’s lives, they take for granted the gifts that they are blessed with.  It’s not like they cherish every moment that they are able to walk, use their hands or speak on command.  They’re more likely to view these gifts as being normal, because they’ve grown accustomed to moving their legs, feet or hands whenever they needed to.  Michael J Fox’s situation is rather different from every else’s.  His Parkinson’s disease has limited his movement and speech which has forced him to end his full-time professional acting career.  He once said “In addition, something as simple as turning my head over my shoulder to convey a greeting can be an actual physical impossibility.  Once I have any degree of momentum while walking, the expenditure of energy to stop and start again can be ten times as taxing as it is for a normal-brained person.”  So mainly, his disease has forced him to only perform one action at a time on some occasions.

Many individuals happen to be fans of Michael J Fox whether it comes from his past acting career or his promotion for upgraded research for Parkinson’s disease.  People respect both his talent as well as his advocacy for Parkinson’s research to benefit patients throughout the country who are victims of this illness.  Patrick McNamara OF Boston University applauds Michael J. Fox for his impressive writing and sense of humor displayed throughout the reading of the book.  One of his favorite lines that stood our to him was when Mr. Fox referred to raising a two year old by saying “It boils down to being on a constant suicide watch…the toddler is busy trying to destroy himself by pissing in electric sockets, downing anything and everything that comes near the mouth and attempting to fling himself down stairwells and out windows. Anyone who has had kids will nod their heads in agreement with this assessment.”  Throughout the reading, Michael J. Fox informs his readers that he has the ability to make the most serious situations both amusing and truthful to others.  He’s able to make comparisons of two entirely different topics and then prove to viewers how similar the two topics actually are.

Mr. Fox wasn’t afraid to display to his readers on how difficult it was for him and his fellow cast members when it came to finishing the fourth season of “Spin City.”  It got to a point where it was obvious that he was not capable of always hiding his symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.  He would lean up against wall as cast mates to help him prevent from trembling.  Mr. Fox would ask to sit down in a scene in an effort to not show his legs shaking on film.  Although Michael J. Fox was a Parkinson’s patient, he didn’t want his audience to view his character “Mike Flaterty” in the same way.  His whole career, he was so use to doing physical comedy, his sickness prevented him from doing that.  Michael J Fox notes that his sickness not only affected his body, but his speech as well.  He no longer had the ability of saying lines on command.  That caused him to hesitate which in turn limited his comedic timing.  He had to discover other ways to amuse and entertain his audience.  This showed you that he was no longer capable of being the same actor that television viewers and moviegoers fell in love with.  He was forced to work with what he had left in the tank.

Many times, Michael’s cast members were not aware of the physical and emotional toll that his disease had taken on him.  They weren’t aware why it had taken him so long to return from his dressing room during rehearsals, failure to learn lines or why he failed to greet them at times.  They weren’t knowledgeable of the limitations that came with Parkinson’s disease.  It was already hard for him, because he was leaving the one job that he loved.  Unlike other teenagers and young adults, Michael J Fox had no college or prior work experience.  He’s been living off of commercial and television gigs ever since he was sixteen years old.  He doesn’t know what it feels like to work anywhere else.  Acting is what he loves doing, and now he no longer has the physical and mental strength to do that.  So it’s almost as if he‘s losing a piece of himself.

Last, but no least, Michael J. Fox did a great job at describing to readers what it was like to live and work with Parkinson’s disease.  It was great that he reminded us that he actually had it easier when it came to his health during the filming of “Spin City.”  He believed that he could have done it up to a seventh season, but he still strongly feels that he made the right decision at that time.  It’s not everyday that you get to read about someone who’s going through a hard or difficult time.  The only difference with Michael J Fox is that we have the luxury of being both educated and tickled his by comedic personality which often shows up in his writing.
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Always-Looking-Up-Adventures-Incurable/dp/1401303382
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2009-04-26/hardcover-nonfiction/list.html

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