The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s fearless founder graces the cover of “Town & Country’s” philanthropy issue, which features changemakers who offer proof of the power of philanthropy. Read the full story to learn about Michael J. Fox’s iconic rise to fame, his decision to launch a research organization and what his closest friends say about how he inspires them.
And now, we present the top five quotes from Michael’s interview. (Someone put these on a bumper sticker!)
- On how Michael thinks of his disease today: “I’ve said Parkinson’s is a gift. It’s the gift that keeps on taking, but it has changed my life in so many positive ways.”
- On experiencing an “epiphany” soon after his diagnosis: “My therapist said, ‘How are you feeling?’” he recalls. “I said, ‘I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.’ And she said, ‘Michael, you have Parkinson’s! The other shoe dropped a long time ago.’”
- On the unexpected joy that came after publicly disclosing his Parkinson’s: “When I went public, I felt like I stood there naked in the town square and said, ‘Look at me. This is what it is.’ What I didn’t realize was how many other people had been dying to do that.”
- On founding an organization with a monumental mission to cure PD: “It seemed straightforward to me. I’m a short kid from Canada who at 17 moved to another country and somehow within five years was a millionaire. I’m of the mind that anything you want to do you can do.”
- On what this year’s biomarker breakthrough means for the field: “When I was diagnosed, it was like a drunk driving test. Now we can say, ‘You have this protein, and we know that you have Parkinson’s.’ It opens the gates for pharmaceutical companies to come in and say, ‘We’ve got a target and we’re going to dump money into it,’ and when they dump money into it, good things happen.”
Read the full story online or pick up a copy at your local newsstand.