I grew up watching Michael J. Fox on TV and in movies. I never wrote him letters or joined his fan club, but I always loosely followed his career. He was about my age and he seems like he is a really grounded and decent guy with a great family and circle of friends and I always rooted for his success, even when his work wasn't quite up to standards. (Bright Lights Big City? Dude, what were you thinking???)
I think it was the fact that we are roughly the same age that made his diagnosis of Parkinson's seem so tragic. I couldn't imagine dealing with such a life-altering event at my age, and I was so impressed that he took that challenge in stride and has used it as an opportunity to improve the world. His charity, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, has raised an incredible amount of money and, as far as I can tell, has spent it wisely in the attempt to find better treatments and even a cure.
From a purely selfish point, I know that the chances of me, or someone I love, developing Parkinson's disease is pretty high. Those chances increase as we all age and I would love to believe that there could actually be a cure by the time that day arrives. For all those reasons, this week's donation is going to an entertaining voice from my childhood: Marty McFly.
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