Michael J. Fox has opened up about life with Parkinson's disease over 30 years after he was first diagnosed. The actor, 61, first <a href="https://vt.co/entertainment/michael-j-fox-says-living-with-parkinsons-sucks-but-he-has-had-a-great-life-i-have-no-regrets">discovered he had the degenerative condition</a> when he was just 29 years old in 1991, when it began with a twitching little finger and a sore shoulder. Although he was diagnosed at the time, he did not go public with his health condition until 1998, having tried to deal with it by drinking excessively. He has since gone on to raise awareness of Parkinson's and even has <a href="https://vt.co/entertainment/michael-j-foxs-foundation-has-funded-groundbreaking-parkinsons-research-its-huge">his own foundation which helps to fund research</a> into the condition and potential treatments and cures. <img class="wp-image-1263209407 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/05/2M4KA93-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="1707" height="2560" />[[imagecaption|| Fox has been living with Parkinson's since the age of 29. Credit: WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy]] Fox has admitted that life gets progressively "tougher" the longer he lives with the condition, explaining in a new interview with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/michael-j-fox-on-parkinsons-and-maintaining-optimism/#x">CBS Sunday Mornings</a>: "It's getting tougher; every day it gets tougher." He described Parkinson's as "the gift that keeps on taking" due to his symptoms, which include tremors, impaired movement, and muscle stiffness. Fox told journalist Jane Pauley: "My life is set up so I can pack Parkinson's along with me if I have to," to which she responded: "You've not squandered any of your capacity, but at some point Parkinson's going to call for you isn't it?" The actor replied: "Yeah, it's banging on the door. I mean, I'm not going to lie it's going to hurt." He detailed the many health issues he has contended with over the years, explaining: "I had spinal surgery. I had a tumor on my spine. And it was benign, but it messed up my walking. 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. Which is a big killer with Parkinson's. It's falling and aspirating food and getting pneumonia. All these subtle ways that get ya." [[youtubewidget||https://youtu.be/7kuT6zm5G-c]] Around 90,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's each year and is the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world. While there are medications which can manage the symptoms, there is currently no cure. Fox added: "You don't die from Parkinson's. You die with Parkinson's. So I've been thinking about the mortality of it. <a href="https://vt.co/entertainment/michael-j-fox-says-he-wont-make-it-to-80-as-he-accepts-his-mortality-of-living-with-parkinsons">I'm not gonna be 80.</a> I'm not gonna be 80." With his foundation, Fox has been fundraising for research into why the condition affects certain people and whether it can be diagnosed before symptoms even start. The foundation also hopes to find better treatments and an eventual cure so that others diagnosed with the condition can have a better quality of life. The Michael J. Fox Foundation recently held a benefit concert in Nashville, Tennessee, titled A Country Thing: Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson's, where stars including Little Big Town showed their support for the cause. Established in 2000, the foundation is the largest non-profit funder of research into Parkinson's in the world, having paid for $1 billion of research projects to date. Fox added on the foundation's official website: "We operate with focus and determination in everything we do. We won't stop until a cure is found." <h6>Featured image credit: Erik Pendzich / Alamy</h6>

Michael J. Fox says life with Parkinson's gets 'tougher every day': 'It's the gift that keeps on taking'

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