Michael J Fox interview

As I mentioned in my previous post, the May, 2010, Reader’s Digest had an interview by Amy Wallace with Michael J. Fox. I was moved beyond belief by his interview. His inspiration has given me hope of further acceptance of this menace that “eats” our brains. I am quoting parts of the interview here with some minor paraphrasing where I have left out parts of a sentence at the beginning of a paragraph. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and do.

Most of the following are direct quotations from that interview.

Michael J Fox philosophy

I’ve come to realize that when I’m symptom-free on the medication, that’s not my natural state. My natural state is trembling and halting and having difficulty talking. So I enjoy the reprieve, but I’m not fooled by it. And if I’m in public and I am symptomatic, it has no bearing on who I am or what I’m trying to get done. Not to get too Zen about it, but if I stand apart from the moment and say, “In this moment, I’m struggling and I can’t do what I want to do”, not only have I not had a good moment, I’ve missed the moment completely, just by standing outside it and judging it.

Let me make this suggestion. Don’t spend a lot of time imagining he worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it well, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice. When things do go bad, don’t run, don’t hide, it will take time, but you’ll find that even the gravest problems are finite, and your choices are infinite.

There is one basic lesson I’ve learned, it is the cardinal importance of this moment – right now.

At first (when he was first diagnosed at age 30) I went into denial. Refusing to disclose my situation to everyone but family, and covering the symptoms with medication, I was really trying to hide from myself. But with no escape from the disease, its symptoms, and its challenges, I was forced, after exercising in vain all other options, to resort to acceptance, which simply means acknowledging the reality of a situation. As my acceptance grew, I came to understand that loss is not a vacuum. If I didn’t impulsively try to fill the space it creates, it gradually began to fill itself, or at least present choices.