Back in 1998, Michael J. Fox revealed a diagnosis that would change his life forever. It was something he'd had kept secret for seven years. At the age of 29, the actor had learned that he had Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's disease is a disorder that affects your nervous system. It can often cause tremors and loss of balance. For an actor, it's especially devastating, as it has the potential of limiting roles. While it's common and there are medications to help treat it, there are no treatments currently able to cure it.
When Michael revealed the news, he decided it was time to end his run on the series Spin City. His new goal was to dedicate more time to advocate and raise funds for research into the disease, even starting up The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
While Michael has a ton of support and all of the resources he needs to help fight this, he admits that there have still been dark periods of time in his life. In fact, it was another health scare that caused him to lose his optimistic perspective for a short time. Chatting with People magazine, Michael opened up about what's been going on.
Michael admitted that doctors found a tumor on his spinal cord in 2018. While it was noncancerous, it was still very painful and growing quickly. "I was heading for paralysis if I didn't get it operated on," the actor said. However, the surgery itself was risky — for some time, Michael questioned what the rest of his life would look like.
Based on the positioning of the tumor, surgeons had to be careful with its removal. According to Michael, the tumor "was constricting the [spinal] cord, so they had to be very careful in removing it so they wouldn't do further damage." While he likely had the best help by his side, surgery in general can be extremely scary.
Luckily, the surgery was successful. But Michael did have to go through programs to learn how to walk again, which is always terrifying. The process took about four months for him to feel confident walking. To celebrate, he told People that he took his family to Martha's Vineyard before working on his next project.
But he faced a fall that delayed all of his plans right before the shoot began. "That was definitely my darkest moment," he said. "I just snapped. I was leaning against the wall in my kitchen, waiting for the ambulance to come, and I felt like, 'This is as low as it gets for me.' It was when I questioned everything. Like, 'I can't put a shiny face on this. There's no bright side to this, no upside. This is just all regret and pain.'"
Optimism is something that Michael J. Fox has always been known for. He even wrote a book on it, titled Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. While it came out 10 years ago, the message is still the same — there's often a bright side.
"Your happiness grows in direct proportion to your acceptance and in inverse proportion to your expectations,[a]cceptance doesn't really mean you're resigned to it," he writes. "It just means acknowledging that that's what it is." His website also notes that pessimists have a higher death rate.
For Michael to lose that optimism is huge, especially since his health issues started when he was so young. He's choosing to live his life and fight this as best he can, which has always been inspiring. For others with disabilities or disorders that might make life more challenging, he's been a great inspiration. He's proof that we're more than our diagnosis.
But that fall made him feel a little like a phony. "Parkinson's, my back, my arm … it still didn't add up to moving the needle on the misery index compared to what some people go through," he said. "I thought, 'How can I tell these people, 'Chin up. Look at the bright side. Things are going to be great?'"
But something really helped him — and it's a method many of us have used before. Michael reportedly started watching nostalgic television shows, which made him feel better. The best were game shows from the '70s, which are truly in their own category of feel-good television.
"Optimism is really rooted in gratitude," he stated. "Optimism is sustainable when you keep coming back to gratitude, and what follows from that is acceptance. Accepting that this thing has happened, and you accept it for what it is. It doesn't mean that you can't endeavor to change. It doesn't mean you have to accept it as a punishment or a penance, but just put it in its proper place. Then see how much the rest of your life you have to thrive in, and then you can move on."
Family is also what keeps Michael J. Fox optimistic. He has four children with wife Tracy Pollan, whom he married back in 1988. The two met on the set of Family Ties and have been in love ever since. Tracy has also helped keep him grounded. As he told Oprah Magazine years back, "Before Tracy and I started seeing each other, I was this boy prince of Hollywood. I had a Mercedes and a Ferrari and a Range Rover, and I was really nuts."
According to E!, Michael proposed to Tracy after just seven months of dating. "I wasn't really worried that she would say no," he said. "The toughest part was trying to figure out when to get married, and then to figure out how nobody else could know about it."
Since then, Tracy has been nothing but supportive of her husband. The two have been a team ever since getting married. The peace and happiness that Tracy and his children give Michael is only aiding his optimistic perspective. "My life now is quiet, and I'm actually having a really good time," he said to People. "People don't believe me, but I love life. I love being with my family. I love being with Tracy."
"I love that I don't do a lot of useless stuff that I used to do, because I don't have the energy or the time," he continued. "I'm grateful that I went through a crucible there in my late 50s. I figured some of this crap out finally, and it didn't haunt me into my 70s and 80s." No matter what, it seems like Michael always has a healthy perspective on his life and what makes him happy.
