OPENING UP

Michael J. Fox Hopes to ‘Just Not Wake Up One Day’ Amid Parkinson’s Battle

After over 30 years of fighting the disease, Fox is opening up about his mortality.

Thirty-four years after being diagnosed with early on-set Parkinson’s at the age of 29, Michael J. Fox is reflecting on his journey and future battle with the disease. “There’s no timeline, there’s no series of stages that you go through — not in the same way that you would, say, with prostate cancer,” Fox, 64, told The Sunday Times. “It’s much more mysterious and enigmatic.” Parkinson’s disease happens “when brain cells that make dopamine, a chemical that coordinates movement, stop working or die,” according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Fox reflected that “not many people” have lived with Parkinson’s as long as he. “I’d like to just not wake up one day,” the Back to the Future actor said. “That’d be really cool. I don’t want to be dramatic. I don’t want to trip over furniture, smash my head.” Due to his declining motor skills, Fox admitted that injuries have become more prevalent. He’s broken his elbow, hand, shoulder, cheekbone and gotten severe infections. Fox said he “take[s] it easy now,” even giving up his favorite hobby of playing the guitar. “I don’t walk that much anymore,” he said, clarifying he can walk but it’s “a bit dangerous.”