Michael J. Fox, 61, Gets Brutally Honest About Parkinson’s in Raw New Interview
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Michael J. Fox opens up about Parkinson’s disease and life expectancy in a raw new interview.
Fox shared that every day is “getting tougher,” but he’s remaining optimistic.
Experts explain the typical course of Parkinson’s disease.
Michael J. Fox is opening up about living with Parkinson’s disease in his upcoming documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie—and he got candid in a new interview about how difficult it has been to navigate life with the disease.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s getting harder,” he told CBS Sunday Morning. “It’s getting tougher. Every day gets tougher. But that’s the way it is. I mean, who do I see about that?”
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrollable and unintended movements like shaking, stiffness, and trouble with balance and coordination, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIA). People with the condition may eventually have trouble walking and talking, the NIA says.
Fox, 61, said that Parkinson’s disease “sucks” and noted that he’s struggling more with tremors, slurred speech, muscle rigidity, jerks, and twists than he has in the past. He’s also struggled with falls and has broken bones.
Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he was 29, shared that he had spinal surgery after doctors discovered a benign tumor in his spine, which “messed up my walking.” He went on to explain: “And then started to break stuff. Broke this arm, and I broke this arm, I broke this elbow. I broke my face. I broke my hand.”
Fox said that falling is a “big killer” with Parkinson’s disease. “It’s falling and aspirating food and getting pneumonia,” he says. “All these subtle ways that gets ya.’ You don’t die from Parkinson’s; you die with Parkinson’s. I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not gonna be 80.”
There is varying data on life expectancy with Parkinson’s disease. However, the journal Neurology says that many people will live nearly 15 more years after being diagnosed with the disease—and it used to be 9.4 years.
There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, but there are medications like levodopa, which helps nerve cells make more dopamine (dopamine dwindles with the disease), according to the NIA. Patients may also be prescribed amantadine to help reduce involuntary movements and anticholinergic drugs to reduce tremors and muscle rigidity, the NIA says.
Unfortunately, treatment doesn’t slow or stop the disease. “We have not yet been able to slow disease progression,” says Amit Sachdev, M.D., medical director for the Michigan State University Department of Neurology and an active investigator in several Parkinson’s Disease clinical trials. But, he adds, “We can mitigate the impact of the disease by treating symptoms.”
Patients who are in advanced stages of Parkinson’s mostly struggle with falling and balance issues, and need to use a walker or sometimes a wheelchair, says Melita Petrossian, M.D., a neurologist and director of the Pacific Movement Disorders Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, Calif. “They can have difficulty with swallowing and, unfortunately, a majority of patients with Parkinson’s who are in advanced stages of the disease experience dementia,” she says.
Physical therapy is important, along with speech therapy—specifically therapy that focuses on swallowing, Dr. Petrossian says. “There is a great deal of focus on swallowing and preventing aspiration,” she says. “I don’t think people are aware of the importance of swallow therapy.”
While Fox joked about who he should see for his symptoms, Dr. Petrossian says that doctors can still help patients in the advanced stages of the disease. “Sometimes medication adjustments are still really important,” she says. “Sometimes we’re taking medications away. There’s still a lot that can be done when people are in advanced stages, but we’re focused on symptom control and prevention of injury.”
“Many medications can improve motor and some non-motor symptoms, and can allow patients to maintain functional abilities for a long time,” says Andrew Feigin, M.D., executive director of The Marlene and Paolo Fresco Institute for Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders at NYU Langone Health. “No treatments have been proven to slow progression, though aerobic exercise is thought to have a positive long-term impact on the progression of Parkinson’s disease.”
Surgeries like deep brain stimulation may also help with tremors, says Gian Pal, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Movement Disorders at the Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Petrossian stresses that “everybody is different” when it comes to Parkinson's disease and the progression of the disease. Fox “is a very unique case considering how young he was when he got the disease,” she says. People who are diagnosed in their 70s, however, are likely to live to their 80s, Dr. Petrossian says, adding, “It’s very variable in terms of how quickly that progression occurs.”
Dr. Pal agrees. “I tell patients that each Parkinson’s disease case is unique, and each individual story is different than other people’s stories,” he says. “You have to take it a day at a time. Even within the same family, the progression can be very different but, generally, we think of Parkinson’s as a slow-moving disease.”
Fox told CBS Sunday Morning that he still has optimism. “I recognize how hard this is for people, and I recognize how hard it is for me,” he said. “But I have a certain set of skills that allow me to deal with this stuff. And I realized, with gratitude, optimism is sustainable. And if you can find something to be grateful for, then you can find something to look forward to, and you carry on.”
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