Michael J. Fox

“My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations. Acceptance is the key to everything.” –Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox was once a great actor in many famous films. Although he was known as an actor to many, Fox has rededicated his life to other people suffering from the same disease he has, Parkinson’s. He is a hero because of his selfless actions and his fight to find a cure for a disease that affects so many.

Michael J. Fox was born on June 9, 1961 in Edmonton, Canada but grew up in Vancouver. Like many Canadian kids, he longed to be a professional hockey player. However, as he grew up, he realized that he was physically too small. Instead, he auditioned for school plays and theatre groups. At the end of his teenage years, he started to act in plays as the main role character. His high school drama teacher was so impressed by Fox’s acting talent that he insisted Fox audition for a CBS television series. Because of his boyish looks and his short height, he always took roles as younger characters. In his early twenties, he played the role of a young boy in a television series called “Family Ties”, the show that launched Fox’s Hollywood acting career. His first film, “Back to the Future” (# 1, 2, and 3), brought him to real Hollywood fame, but unfortunately, in 1989, he was struck with Parkinson’s disease. For a few years, he kept this disease a secret to all but a few and continued acting. Eventually, in 1998, he shocked the public with the news that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the early 1990’s. In 2000, Fox announced that he was ending his movie career.

One way that Michael J. Fox is a hero is because he started a foundation known as the “Michael J. Fox Foundation”. The whole purpose of this foundation is to raise money for research so people can find a cure for Parkinson’s and to help other people with Parkinson’s disease. “Fox established The Michael J. Fox Foundation Research in 2000 to raise research funding and awareness for Parkinson’s disease. The organization is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today” (IMDb 2). This shows how Michael J. Fox will do anything to find a cure for this disease. He started a whole foundation just to raise money for this worthwhile purpose. Fox was looking for many different ways to raise money for his foundation. “Subsequently, Fox became active in the Parkinson's Action Network and began lobbying the U.S. Congress for federal funds for research; he took U.S. citizenship in 2000 just in time to cast a vote in that year's elections. He also started the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. However, he still plans to continue acting intermittently as well as producing, and in 2000 he signed a deal with Hyperion to write a book” (Avery). He has lobbied Congress, spent his own money, and acquired private donations to fund research to fight this horrible disease. Michael will stop at nothing to find a cure so he can help other people who have been afflicted with Parkinson’s.

Michael says that his disease has led him to many opportunities. “For everything this disease has taken, something with greater value has been given--sometimes just a marker that points me in a new direction that I might not otherwise have traveled. So, sure, it may be one step forward and two steps back, but after a time with Parkinson's, I've learned that what is important is making that one step count; always looking up” (Michael J. Fox). This quote is important because it shows that the more he learns about the disease, or the worse it becomes in his own personal experience, the more Michael refuses to become discouraged or defeated. Fox knew there would be a time when he would have to say goodbye to his acting career. “Fox in 2000 announced he was leaving the show to spend time with his family and to help raise funds for research on his illness” (Avery). Here Fox left his acting career so he could help other people and spend more time with his family. Instead of giving up, Michael changed his focus and rededicated his life’s purpose to helping other people.

Michael J. Fox is an inspiration to others because he has shown that he is still capable of acting even with a disease that can disable for many years. “In 1998, Fox stunned the public and the world of show business with his announcement that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the early 1990’s.” (Avery) “Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year” (Avery) Michael has inspired many other people who have Parkinson’s to go beyond their limits and keep on doing the things they want to do. He encourages them to not let anything stop them or get in their way. The foundation that Michael has started has been a great success and has inspired many researchers and victims to find a cure for Parkinson’s. “The Michael J. Fox Foundation is helping to speed up drug development for PD with innovative strategies that identify roadblocks along the therapeutic development pipeline. By sharing the risk of drug development with academic and industry researchers alike, we hope to increase the movement of new treatments into the clinic” (The Foundation for Parkinson’s Research). This quote is significant because it shows that many researchers working for Michael’s foundation want to find a cure and will try and increase the movement of new treatments. Michael’s foundation is an inspiration because it’s not sharing ideas for Parkinson’s, but also for other industry researchers. In conclusion, Michael J. Fox is a hero because of his determined, selfless actions in waging a war to find a cure for a disease that affects the lives of so many others.