If you grew up in the 1980’s like I did, you will remember the sitcom Family Ties, and the blockbuster Back to the Future movies. If not, you might have watched the Spin City TV series in the 1990s. Michael J. Fox starred in each, but disappeared from our screens after the fourth season of Spin City finished in American in May 2000. You may have wondered why he was no longer starring in the hit sitcom that revived his acting career after a number of Hollywood movie flops – a puzzling development. Lucky Man is Michael’s story about his early acting career and the effect that being diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease had on not only his career, but his family and his outlook on life.
This is a candid look into the life of a very private person. Unlike today’s celebrities who strive to be on the front cover of every magazine and having their personal life displayed for all to see, Michael J. Fox took great pains to keep his personal life as private as possible. No magazine spreads for his marriage in 1988 to Tracy Pollan, and his four children are rarely seen in the limelight. So it is admirable the way in which he has taken up the gauntlet to be the face of Parkinsons Disease. Parkinsons is a disease that affects the older part of the population, usually being diagnosed between 50 and 60 years of age. Michael was 30 when he was diagnosed which puts him in the rare group of less than 10% who are under 40 when they are diagnosed. This group tend to keep their symptoms hidden for as long as they can in order to protect the welfare and finances of their families. As Michael puts it, fear of being marginalised and misunderstood – stigmatised – is prevalent amongst the younger people who suffer from the disease and loss of their job is a very real possibility when employers are made aware of the physical issues that accompany their disease. As a celebrity and already set up financially for the future, Michael recognised that he could do more than most.
This is not a depressing book despite the subject matter. Michael J. Fox tells his story in an uplifting way, and as he says, the ten years between being diagnosed and writing the book have been some of the happiest of his life. The diagnosis made him take stock of his life and the excesses that came with the success he was enjoying. In his eyes, he is a lucky man.
Lucky Man is well written and I enjoyed the insight into the world of television. Most of all I found his humility and optimism something we should all aspire to as this is someone who seems to have everything, but has to deal with a life crisis just like any one else. I picked up his new book , Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, which was released last year, at the bookshop yesterday and I am looking forward to reading the latest in his journey.
Showing posts with label Always Looking Up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Always Looking Up. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
What are you getting for Mother's Day?
Do you give gifts for Mother’s Day? My children use to buy something from the Mother’s Day stall at school for me but now my older two like to buy something from the shops. We try to make it small so, for me, a book is my ideal gift as I can’t think of anything I would rather do than while a way a few hours reading a book. Hopefully I might get breakfast in bed as well!
I was thinking – what books would I like this Mother’s Day? I looked at a book store catalogue of a major chain that arrived in my post box this week and I thought the selections were very stereotypical. In the catalogue were:
For my foodie passions: Sunday’s Kitchen by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan.
Those living in Melbourne may be familiar with Heide, the home of John and Sunday Reed, and sanctuary at various times to many Melbourne artists and writers such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester and Charles Blackman. This is part history book, part cookbook and sounds fascinating. A review of the book can be found here.
For the fiction reader: The Second-Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel
This book intrigued me after I read about it in a blog called Bookbath which I follow (you can read the review here). Set after World War II, the story starts with a murder. It is not the murder that is focus of the book though, as apparently the perpetrator is know at the outset. It is the relationships between the main characters during the year prior that are important.
A biography to make us think how fortunate we are: Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox.
I, like many of my age group, loved the Back to the Future movies and TV shows that Michael has appeared in during the 1980’s. When he wrote his first book, Lucky Man, on living with Parkinson’s disease after being diagnosed at the young age of 30, I meant to read it but have never got around to it. I now have it beside my bed to tackle soon. I think he is such an inspiring person, and I’m sure his approach to life is very different these days from when he was at the pinnacle of his acting career. It’s good to be reminded sometimes as to how lucky we are.
I was thinking – what books would I like this Mother’s Day? I looked at a book store catalogue of a major chain that arrived in my post box this week and I thought the selections were very stereotypical. In the catalogue were:
• Jodi Picoult. I don’t mind her books but I’m not sure that that’s what I want to read on my special day;
• Family meal type cook books. While I love cookbooks, unless it’s got some kind of story woven in, a book about slow cooking or family meals in a flash is like giving me electric appliances for my birthday which my husband knows is a “no no” if he wants to stay in my good books.What I’d like to get for Mother’s Day:
• Chick lit. We might choose these books for ourselves to read, but our better halves and children should beware that they’re not implying we’ve lost all our brain cells raising said children;
• Biographies about inspiring women. I’m not sure Susan Boyle is my idea of a role model, and some of the others just make me feel inadequate as I look at my daily routine of taxi driver for the kids, cook and housekeeper for everyone.
• Travel to far away places – not for me this year. My son is going on a more exotic trip with his school than I will have this year.
• Body and diet. These made me really laugh. I'm not sure that it's a good idea for a man to give The Feel Good Body by Jennifer Fleming and Anna Louise Bouvier, for example, to his partner on behalf of the children and I not sure how I would feel if my teenage sons gave it to me or how my mother would feel if I gave it to her.
For my foodie passions: Sunday’s Kitchen by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan.
Those living in Melbourne may be familiar with Heide, the home of John and Sunday Reed, and sanctuary at various times to many Melbourne artists and writers such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester and Charles Blackman. This is part history book, part cookbook and sounds fascinating. A review of the book can be found here.
For the fiction reader: The Second-Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel
This book intrigued me after I read about it in a blog called Bookbath which I follow (you can read the review here). Set after World War II, the story starts with a murder. It is not the murder that is focus of the book though, as apparently the perpetrator is know at the outset. It is the relationships between the main characters during the year prior that are important.
A biography to make us think how fortunate we are: Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox.
I, like many of my age group, loved the Back to the Future movies and TV shows that Michael has appeared in during the 1980’s. When he wrote his first book, Lucky Man, on living with Parkinson’s disease after being diagnosed at the young age of 30, I meant to read it but have never got around to it. I now have it beside my bed to tackle soon. I think he is such an inspiring person, and I’m sure his approach to life is very different these days from when he was at the pinnacle of his acting career. It’s good to be reminded sometimes as to how lucky we are.
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