was failing it because I was too tired. That’s why I
left school.”
So what else would a determined teenager do
but set out to seek fame and fortune, trading the
stability of Vancouver for the uncertainty of
Hollywood. He convinced his father, a conservative
career military man, to drive him.
“For my dad,” says Fox, “I was bringing home a
check and I was serious about something and I
worked hard at it—that was all he needed to know.”
Fox family
portrait, 2006.
Clockwise from
left, Schuyler, Sam,
Esmé, Michael, Tracy,
Aquinnah.
“It’s the courage
to look at some-
thing and say,
However bad
this is, it isn’t
bad infinitely.”
Fox worked occasionally in episodic television
for a few years, but full-blown success eluded him.
“I had no money, I was playing ‘duck the landlord,’ I had no phone,” he says. “My dad wrote me a
letter saying he was proud of me and it was proof
enough that I had talent and I could come home and
there was no shame in it. That meant a lot to me.”
Fox was about ready to move back to
Vancouver and get a job in construction when he
won the role of Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties. The
show would make him a star, win him three Emmy
Awards and a Golden Globe, and unite him with
his future wife, actress Tracy Pollan, with whom
he would have four children. Parkinson’s
Iconic roles in films such as Teen
facts and resources
Wolf and the Back to the Future trilogy
followed. It was the fame and fortune every young
actor dreams of. Life couldn’t have been better.
The hard way
Then, in 1991, Fox was diagnosed with
Parkinson’s disease, a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects one in 100 people over
age 60. About 5 to 10 percent of
patients see the onset around
age 40. Fox was only 30.
“The first thing I felt was a
tremor in my pinky,” he recalls.
“By a couple of years in, my
whole left side was very tremulous. I could knock it down
with medication, but I wasn’t
very adept at dealing with the
side effects of the medication.”
For seven years, he guarded
the diagnosis.
CINDY GOLD
“My first instinct was to
keep it a secret. Being an actor
made me more capable of hiding it,” he says. “I became very
fluent in the tricks of distraction. I knew when to lean against
the wall or do what I have to do
[to mask the symptoms].”
But, he says, “The clock
was ticking.
“I knew that I only had
about five years left of being
able to perform in the way that
I had. I wanted to have a situation where I could
have a stable life, be in the same place, be with the
kids, be with Tracy.”
Nearly 5 million people
worldwide are living
with Parkinson’s
disease (PD).
Symptoms include
tremors, slowness of
movement and rigidity, problems sleeping,
gastrointestinal issues,
mood disorders and
cognitive dysfunction.
No current treatment
has been proven to
slow or stop the
progression of PD;
available therapies
mask symptoms, and
only some symptoms
at that. Treatments
have serious side
effects, and efficacy
fades over time. For
many of the most
debilitating symptoms
of PD, there is no
effective treatment.
Spin city
Fox’s film career had been taking him away
from his family. While the daily grind of a television series might be wearing on him physically,
the stability was just what he needed, and Spin
City was the solution.
Fox not only starred in the situation comedy, in
a role created for him, but was co-executive producer as well. Some actors might take that credit
without actually taking on the backstage chores.
Fox immersed himself in the duties.
Spin City premiered in 1996. Four years later,
PD was taking its toll; the symptoms were too hard
to cover. Fox publicly shared his illness and
announced his retirement from the show and full-time acting, pending the completion of the fourth
season and 100th episode.
For more information,
in addition to www.
michaeljfox.org, visit the
following Web sites:
Advocacy:
www.parkinson
action.org
List of current U.S.
clinical trials:
www.clinicaltrials.gov
and search
“Parkinson’s disease.”
For love or money
Despite the debilitating effects of PD, Fox was
still an extremely vital young man. He wasn’t about
to sit idly, waiting for a miracle. He wanted a cure.
In 2000, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for
Parkinson’s Research (see sidebar on page 24) was
born. Drawing on his celebrity, it found immediate
acceptance. Support came from the New York
