{"id":24698,"date":"2010-11-19T09:19:48","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T14:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=24698"},"modified":"2011-08-18T15:35:43","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T19:35:43","slug":"live-through-the-moment-says-michael-j-fox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/11\/live-through-the-moment-says-michael-j-fox\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Through the Moment, Says Michael J. Fox"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Michael<\/a>
Michael J. Fox talks at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Jessica Tommaselli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It started with a shaking pinky. Speaking to a packed audience at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts this past Wednesday, actor-turned-activist Michael J. Fox was recalling the moment that he first discovered signs of early onset Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

He was staying at a hotel, and awoke to find that his little finger had a slight, persistent tremor. Initial curiosity soon turned to dread, Fox remembered, as he realized that he couldn\u2019t stop the shaking.<\/p>\n

Since that incident 20 years ago, Fox, best known for his acting in the Back to the Future<\/em> movie trilogy, has cris-crossed the nation as an advocate for a cure for Parkinson\u2019s disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and other functions.<\/p>\n

In a lecture titled, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, <\/em>Fox spoke about his childhood, his family, and his decision to become an actor. Recalling his early acting career, tiny first apartment, and infrequent meals he said, \u201cBeing a poor, starving actor, is a lot more fun in retrospect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing on lessons learned during his acting career, Fox shared meaningful insights on how he has learned to cope with his affliction. When faced with tragedy, he stressed, don\u2019t play the result. Instead, live life to the fullest by living through the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a saying in acting,\u201d Fox noted, \u201cespecially in comedy: \u2018Never play the result.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re about to, say, get a pie in the face, you can\u2019t flinch because you know the pie is coming,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf you do, the joke falls flat and the moment is ruined.\u201d Then, with emphasis, Fox added: \u201cYou have to live through that moment as if you didn\u2019t know what was going to happen \u2013 as if you were really living through<\/em> the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox related how \u2013 after being diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease \u2013 he went through denial and the \u201crest of the stages,\u201d referring to the five stages of grief that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross<\/a> identified in her 1969 book On Death and Dying.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like I was standing in the middle of a street wearing cement shoes,\u201d said Fox. \u201cI could hear the bus, I knew the bus was coming, I could literally feel its vibrations, but I didn\u2019t know whether it was an uptown bus or a downtown bus, or when it was going to get here or what damage it was going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crediting the help and understanding of his family and friends, Fox said that he eventually came to terms with his illness and the trajectory it would take. \u201cI was still me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just me with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Michael<\/a>
Michael J. Fox shared his experiences as both an actor and an activist when talking with students. Photo by Jessica Tommaselli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choosing to be pro-active, Fox established the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson\u2019s Research<\/a>, an organization with the mission of funding research that may one day lead to better treatments and a cure for Parkinson\u2019s disease. A part of his work for the Foundation includes speaking engagements around the country that Fox takes on annually, using his celebrity status to help educate audiences about the disease.<\/p>\n

Throughout the lecture, Fox repeatedly spoke about the importance of living in the moment, about living life to the fullest, and about not playing the result. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

He recalled a woman he met one day who was worried that her husband was in denial about having Parkinson\u2019s Disease. Asking her in what way her husband was in denial, she replied that he was pursuing activities that he just shouldn\u2019t be doing anymore: hiking, jogging, golfing, and traveling. Fox remembers thinking: \u201cThat\u2019s not denial lady, that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLife comes down to a series of choices,\u201d he said. \u201cOne choice I can\u2019t make is whether or not I have Parkinson\u2019s disease. Everything else is up to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event was co-sponsored by the Student Union Board of Governors (SUBOG) and the Connecticut Leadership Legacy Experience. SUBOG is a student-run program that hosts a number of events each semester, ranging from major music concerts, to comedians, to speakers. The Leadership Legacy Experience has been established to recognize and invite the University’s most exceptional student leaders to participate in a year-long leadership enhancement experience that builds on their legacy as University leaders and helps prepare them for a life of commitment and contribution beyond graduation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fox, who has Parkinson\u2019s disease, applies his acting background to coping with real life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[56],"class_list":["post-24698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 01:49:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24698"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44719,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24698\/revisions\/44719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24698"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=24698"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}