Michael J Fox: Parkinson’s Champion For A Cure
Michael J. Fox is among the most well-known people living with Parkinson’s disease. Many remember him as the fresh-faced young star of the 1980s TV comedy hit Family Ties and the popular Back to the Future movies. Though most people with Parkinson’s are diagnosed between ages 40 and 60, Fox was diagnosed at age 30 but his diagnosis didnt slow him down.
He shared his young-onset Parkinson’s disease diagnosis with the world in 1998 and, two years later, founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Fox is committed to helping the foundation build Parkinson’s disease awareness and raise funds for research into prevention, treatment, and a cure. In addition to his advocacy work, hes still a working actor some more recent roles have included characters with Parkinson’s in the TV shows The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
“As long as I play a guy with Parkinson’s, I can do anything,” he joked in a 2013 AARP interview.
Icipate In Clinical Trials And Surveys
Clinical trials are essential not just for finding a cure for Parkinsons but for learning how to live well today. Also, when you participate in a clinical trial, you contribute to research that could bring new Parkinsons treatments to people who need them the most. Some clinical trial participation involves a long-term commitment and can be time-consuming however, participating in a survey can be as simple as answering a few questions online.
Here are a few you can participate in today:
Park Test University of Rochester
Project Euphonia LSVT Global and Project Euphonia
BouNDless Phase 3 trial to investigate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of ND0612, a continuous subcutaneous levodopa/carbidopa delivery system in comparison to oral levodopa/carbidopa in people with Parkinsons experiencing motor fluctuations
Brian Grant: Staying Positive With Parkinson’s
Brian Grant spent 12 seasons as a National Basketball Association player, playing for the Sacramento Kings, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Phoenix Suns. As an NBA player, he was known for his positive team commitment as well as his work with disadvantaged children. According to an interview with ESPN, he was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease in January 2009, following his retirement from professional basketball. He went on to found the Brian Grant Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring those living with Parkinson’s disease to include exercise as medicine.
Don’t Miss: Is Beer Good For Parkinson’s
Notable Figures With Parkinsons
Although more than 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease , the general public’s understanding of disease symptoms is often limited to what is seen in the media. Many people only know Parkinson’s as the disease that Muhammad Ali had, or Michael J. Fox has.
However, when a household name such as Ali or Fox announces their diagnosis, Parkinson’s coverage briefly spikes. While a diagnosis is upsetting, when notable figures are public about their disease, the coverage helps increase awareness and understanding, while personalizing Parkinson’s for those with no other connection.
A PD diagnosis is universally difficult to cope with, but with a platform to speak from and fans to speak to, here’s a list of notable figures that have helped shape the Parkinson’s conversation:
Ways To Be A Parkinsons Advocate
Over one million people in the US are living with Parkinsons today, which is more than the number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and Lou Gehrigs disease combined. Its the fastest-growing neurological disorder, a leading cause of disability in the world, and its on track to DOUBLE by the year 2040.
And thats just the tip of the iceberg
- The National Institutes of Health devotes approximately $3 billion to HIV research, while Parkinsons receives less than $200 million.
- The average yearly cost of treatment for someone living with Parkinsons is approximately $19,000.
- Eighty percent of people living with Parkinsons in the US are on Medicare.
- The estimated value of care partner services is $460 billion, yet care partners get no monetary relief.
- There are currently 80,000 military veterans living with Parkinsons.
- Somewhere between 4-10% of people living with Parkinsons are under the age of 50.
What does this mean for us? It means that more and more people are living with Parkinsons, which taxes a variety of health and financial systems, and as this population grows, even more people will be unable to access the care they need to live WELL with it.
So, we have a lot of work to do. And it all starts with advocacy. Here are three simple but high return ways to become a Parkinsons advocate.
Recommended Reading: Claiming Pip For Parkinson’s Disease
Who Would Replace Him If He Resigns
Russian opposition leader and former FSB officer Gennady Gudkov reckons that Putin has probably already agreed to leave.
He told Russian journalist Alexander Sotnik: “I am sure that the transit of power in Russia has begun.
“I have no insider information – I draw analytical conclusions and follow only common sense and the information that everyone has access to.
“I believe that Putin agreed to leave – either voluntarily or because of his health condition .”
Gudkov believes power will go to a group of “people headed by the security officials, who, it seems to me, will soon consider the question: how to preserve Putinism without Putin?”
He came to that conclusion after observing Putin – famous for being staunch and posing topless while fishing – “behaving strangely” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“All over the world, quite old presidents and prime ministers did not stop their activity,” said Gudkov, who also served in the KGB in the Soviet era.
“And their chances of getting infected are slightly higher than that of the average citizen.
“For example, Donald Trump who is older than Putin, is conducting an active election campaign Angela Merkel is actively working.
“Many other leaders of the countries have had this infection without any problems. All of them, like Vladimir Putin, have access to the best medicine.”
But, adds Gudkov, “at this time, Putin has been in the bunker since February-March.
Telecoms Ventures Railways And Worldwide Impact
In 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI for £500 million. Branson said that he wept when the sale was completed because the record business had been the very start of the Virgin empire. He created V2 Records in 1996 to re-enter the music business, owning 5% himself. Virgin also acquired European short-haul airline Euro Belgian Airlines and renamed it Virgin Express. In 1997, Branson took what many saw as being one of his riskier business exploits by entering into the railway business during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. Virgin Rail Group won the InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast franchises, beginning operations in January and March 1997 respectively. Both franchises were scheduled to run for 15 years.
A series of disputes in the early 1990s caused tension between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, which viewed Virgin as an emerging competitor. Virgin subsequently accused British Airways of poaching its passengers, hacking its computers, and leaking stories to the press that portrayed Virgin negatively. After the so-called campaign of “dirty tricks”, British Airways settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson, a further £110,000 to his airline, and had to pay legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson distributed his compensation among his staff.
Branson launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, and airline Virgin Blue in Australia in 2000.
Read Also: What’s New In Parkinson’s Research
Television Film And Print
Branson has guest starred, usually playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch, Birds of a Feather, Only Fools and Horses, The Day Today, a special episode of the comedy Goodness Gracious Me and Tripping Over. Branson made several appearances during the 1990s on the BBC Saturday morning show Live & Kicking, where he was referred to as ‘the pickle man’ by comedy act Trev and Simon .
Branson also appears in a cameo early in XTC‘s “Generals and Majors” video. He was also the star of a reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best , in which sixteen contestants were tested for their entrepreneurship and sense of adventure and only lasted one season.
His high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satirethe2000 AD series Zenith features a parody of Branson as a super villain, as the comic’s publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition at the time. He is also caricatured in The Simpsons episode “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love” as the tycoon Arthur Fortune, as the ballooning megalomaniac Richard Chutney in Believe Nothing, and voiced himself in “The Princess Guide“. The character Grandson Richard 39 in Terry Pratchett‘s Wings is modelled on Branson.
Parkinsons Sufferer Questions Virgin Care’s Service For Bath Patients With The Incurable Disease
The 80-year-old woman claims she struggles to see a specialist although Virgin Care says it is operating within national guidelines
- 00:01, 5 APR 2018
A Parkinsons sufferer has complained to Virgin Care about an apparent breakdown of medical care and support, claiming she struggles to get an appointment to have her symptoms reviewed by a specialist.
The complaint comes as Sir Richard Bransons company marks its first year in charge of community health and care services in Bath and North East Somerset.
Anne MacFarlaine, who was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease aged 61, claims she needs to see a specialist at least four times a year to prevent her becoming rigid and immobile.
But the 80-year-old Timsbury woman said she now struggles to get an appointment and last saw her specialist seven months ago.
In an email to Virgin Cares customer services, which she shared with Bath Live, Mrs MacFarlaine wrote: As someone whose condition is now complex, I feel I need to see a specialist at least four times a year as my medication needs constant tweaking to prevent my becoming so rigid and immobile that I have no quality of life.
Yet, I am becoming extremely concerned that over the past year or so, it has become a real struggle to make an appointment.
A few years ago, an appointment card was sent automatically immediately after a clinical visit and patients were always assured of the date and time when they would next see their specialist.
Read More
Read Also: Parkinson’s Phlegm At Night
Richard Branson And A Naked Denni Parkinson
New pictures are online of Richard Branson cavorting around his private island Necker with a naked supermodel.
Branson was posing for photographer Stephane Gautronneau when he asked Branson if model Denni Parkinson, Gautronneau’s girlfriend who was present at the time, could get in some pictures.
She clung to the billionaire’s back while he kite surfed and also lolled around on the sand as Branson stood on the shore in a white linen shirt.
Branson told the Mail on Sunday ‘What can you say if you are asked to pose with a naked lady? I only wish I had eyes in the back of my head.’
The paper added Branson’s wife and two grown children watched the shoot from the shore.
Sir Richard Branson Tells Of Years Of Grief For His Lost Baby Girl
Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson has spoken movingly about the death of his first child and described the experience as horrendous.
Clare Sarah, the first-born daughter for the billionaire entrepreneur and his second wife Joan, was born three months prematurely.
She died in a hospital incubator when she was just a few days old in 1979. The couple, who have been together for 32 years, then went on to have two more children, Holly and Sam.
Candid: Sir Richard Branson and Piers Morgan on set after the interview
Sir Richards first marriage to American Kristen Tomassi in 1972 lasted four years and the couple did not have any children.
In an interview with Mail on Sunday columnist Piers Morgan, to be broadcast on ITV1 next Sunday, he admits that his wife has never got over Clares death.
Sir Richard, 58, said: The mending process takes time and it didnt really start until Holly was born 18 months later … but I suspect for the mother its never completely completed.
The couple were on holiday in Inverness when Joan complained of stomach pains and believed she was having an attack of appendicitis.
Doctors operated and it was found to be a false alarm. But it brought on early labour, and Clare was born at just 25 weeks.
The millionaire has been together with wife Joan for 32 years and the couple have two adult children, Holly and Sam
Sir Richard said: We were hoping and praying that the hospital would keep her alive, but it wasnt to be.
Read Also: Tardive Dyskinesia And Parkinson’s
Janet Reno: Public Service With Parkinson’s
The first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general, from 1993 to 2001, Janet Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1995, just two years after she was nominated to the cabinet position. She was 55 at the time. “Well, my hand was shaking this summer, and I thought it would go away. I thought it was maybe you all picking on me. But it didn’t go away, and so I went and had it checked out,”Reno said during a press conference at the time.
Reno took medication to bring her symptoms under control, and although her Parkinson’s advanced, she was able to guest star as herself in a 2013 episode of The Simpsons, presiding in a trial in which Bart Simpson was the defendant.
Reno died in November 2016 at age 78.
Package Holiday Industries And Virgin Atlantic
Branson’s first successful entry into the airline industry was during a trip to Puerto Rico. His flight was cancelled, so he decided to charter his own plane the rest of the way and offered a ride to the rest of the stranded passengers for a small fee to cover the cost.
In 1982, Virgin purchased the gay bar Heaven. In 1991, in a consortium with David Frost, Branson made an unsuccessful bid for three ITV franchises under the CPV-TV name. The early 1980s also saw his only attempt as a produceron the novelty record “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep“, by The Singing Sheep in association with Doug McLean and Grace McDonald, on which he was credited as “Jeff Mutton”. The track consisted of samples of animal noises recorded at his aunt Claire Hoares’ farm in Norfolk, set to a drum-machine-produced track and reached number 42 in the UK charts in 1982.
Branson formed Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Cargo in 1984. He formed Virgin Holidays in 1985.
Don’t Miss: Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Options
Does Vladimir Putin Have Parkinson’s
Back in 2015, researchers at the Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, in The Netherlands identified signs in Putin’s gait which could point to Parkinson’s.
The team spotted how the Russian strongman walks with his left arm not moving – almost pinned to his side – while his right arm swings freely.
Pictures of the President, 68, giving speeches also show him with his right arm resting casually on a lectern, with his left arm straight by his side.
The peer-reviewed research says a walk that shows a marked reduction in arm swing on just one side can sometimes be a symptom of Parkinson’s disease, says Medical News Today.
But the team also pointed out it could be a “gunslingers walk”, as KGB agents were trained to keep their weapons tightly pinned to their left-hand side.
Putin is an ex-KGB officer.
Observers who studied footage of Putin noted his legs appeared to be in constant motion and he looked to be in pain while clutching a chair’s armrest.
His fingers were also seen to be twitching as he held a pen and gripped a cup believed to contain a cocktail of painkillers.
And one of his critics, Moscow political scientist Professor Valery Solovey, has also suggested that Putin may have symptoms of Parkinsons.
Solovey was previously a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, but was dismissed in 2019 for “undermining political stability in Russia”.
Kabaeva is Putin’s glamorous ex-gymnast lover.
Linda Ronstadt: Parkinson’s Took Her Voice But Not Her Spirit
Known for her rich soprano vocals as the lead singer of the 1960s band the Stone Poneys, Linda Ronstadt opened up about her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis to AARP The Magazine in 2013. After two very bad tick bites in the 1980s, Ronstadt says her health never fully recovered but she didn’t visit a neurologist until she was no longer able to sing.
“I didn’t know why I couldn’t sing all I knew was that it was muscular or mechanical. Then when I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I was finally given the reason. I now understand that no one can sing with Parkinson’s disease. No matter how hard you try. And in my case, I can’t sing a note,” she told AARP.
Read Also: Parkinson’s Disease And Sleep
So What Happened During July 2021
In world news:
July 8th The global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 4 million lives .
July 11th Billionaire Sir Richard Branson flew really high. A new age of space tourism blah, blah, blah.
July 20th Billionaire Jeff Bezos flew really high Seriously, these folks have accumulated vast fortunes and this is how they chose to spend their money?!?!?
July 22nd Dawn Butler was forced to leave the UK House of Commons by order of the acting Deputy Speaker, after she made comments referring to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a liar. Two questions: 1.) Why did her peers not walk out in solidarity with her? 2.) Why did the deputy speaker not point out the obvious . Yes, I am a cynic.
July 23rd the Tokyo Olympic games began.
July 29th New Zealand-based Rocket Lab successfully reached orbit the 18th electron rocket to do so.
In the world of Parkinsons research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:
In July 2021, there were 819 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word Parkinsons attached . In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinsons research activity .