20 Fox Focus | In the Spotlight
Michael J Fox:
“ Everything is possible.”
DURING A WHIRLWIND FEW WEEKS in October, Michael hit the road to promote his newest book, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. At each stop, Michael spoke with pride about The Foundation, from the progress made toward finding a cure to the billions raised for scientific research.
“ The Foundation was a way to give a voice to people who were disenfranchised and marginalized because of this disease,” Michael told NBC“ Sunday Today” host
At a special Back to the Future screening in October, Michael— joined by MJFF Board Member and Future Boy co-author Nelle Fortenberry( center) and MJFF CEO Debi Brooks— answered community questions.
Willie Geist. Willie, an MJFF board member, has a close connection to Parkinson’ s disease: his father, Bill Geist, was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’ s and sits on the MJFF Patient Council.“ The more I thought about it, the more I thought, I can’ t not do this,” Michael explained.
“ The other stuff is great,” Michael said of his career,“ But if I could come out of this with something more substantial— a change in the way Parkinson’ s is treated, or some version of a cure— it would be amazing, so much better than any movie or TV show.”
On“ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Michael spoke of the tremendous privilege he feels as a Parkinson’ s advocate.“ If I have something to say, I’ m going to show up and say it,” he explained.“ People with Parkinson’ s were stigmatized for years. To claim this ground for us, to show up and say,‘ We’ re here’— it’ s meant a lot to a lot of people. I’ m flattered and humbled by it, but it’ s not about me. It’ s about all these families and people who want change.”
None of this work would be possible without Foundation staff, whom Michael recognized during an appearance on“ The View.”“ The Foundation was a great opportunity. I wanted to seize it and get the right people around me. Now we have 300 people working for us. We’ re going to get it done. We identified a biomarker; we can ideally identify the disease before symptoms are evident. It’ s an exciting time.”