Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

Fifteen years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Michael J. Fox tells his personal story of how he turned his challenges into opportunities in his new book, "Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist." His first book, Lucky Man, documenting his career and his experience with Parkinson's disease, which, nine years after diagnosis in 1991, forced the end of his full-time acting career. Struck with Parkinson's, a debilitating, degenerative disease, at the height of his fame, Fox has taken what some might consider cause for depression and turned it into a beacon of hope for millions. Now, in Always Looking Up, he writes about the personal philosophy that carried him through his darkest hours, and speaks with others who have emerged from difficult periods with optimisms to spare.


Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson's disease.
Always Looking Up is a memoir of this last decade, told through the critical themes of Michael's life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson's.
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist provides an uplifting account of how he has become a happier and more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.
For the past ten years,  Michael J. Fox has been a spokesman for research into Parkinson's disease.
Michael J. Fox, June 9, 1961 - Born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on June 9, 1961. he adopted the "J." as an homage to character actor Michael J. Pollard. Fox made his acting debut in the comedy "Leo and Me" at the age of 15, after quitting high school. He moved to Los Angeles at 18, appearing in small roles and the television series Palmerstown, U. S. A. in 1980, before landing the role that would make him famous, that of Alex P. Keaton in the television series "Family Ties" in 1982. The show was a springboard for Fox, who hit big screen stardom as time-traveling teen Marty McFly in the hugely successful Back To The Future film series: Part I (1985), Part II (1989) and Part III (1990).
Fox is sometimes compared to Christopher Reeve, the Superman actor who became an advocate for scientific research after being paralyzed in a riding accident.
Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist is available at Amazon and other good book stores.
 
 
http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/publications/always-looking-up.php


Michael J. Fox is Always Looking Up
PostDateIcon April 13th, 2009

For many of the people of my generation who suffer from Parkinson’s disease, Michael J. Fox has been something of a patron saint. He’s far from the only well-known person with PD, but he is very familiar to us, having made so many popular films and having starred in several TV series, both before and after being diagnosed with PD. His efforts to use his celebrity status both to promote understanding of the disease and to push for a cure have been inspiring.

All that is a roundabout way of saying that many of us read his first book, “Lucky Man,” years ago (and, in fact, I mentioned my experience with it in a previous column).  That book meant a lot to me, having read it when I was diagnosed, so I didn’t wait long before picking up his newest work, “Always Looking Up: the Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.”
In his second book, Fox details his experiences in life and politics while living with Parkinson's disease

In his second book, Fox writes about his experiences in life and politics while living with Parkinson's disease

I understand that title; I have been saying for a few years now that I’m the happiest guy with an incurable brain disease you’ll ever meet. I’ve never understood the point of saying, “Woe is me,”  (not that anyone actually says that in real life) and I have never, ever asked, “Why me?” (Why not me? Why anyone?)

Turns out, even after nearly 20 years with PD, Fox is the same way.  In this book, he explains what his life has been like since the original book was published.  It is divided into four sections: Work, Politics, Faith and Family, and it is pretty damned good.

Between his pre-existing celebrity and that which came with having written a best-selling memoir, Fox freely admits he’s had more access to cooler people and events than the average person. While that’s clearly been fun for him, he has also managed to use his access to advance the cause of Parkinson’s awareness and research.

Fox moved into the political arena with some trepidation, but with the understanding that he has the power to motivate necessary change. Like most of us, and despite the fact that PD in the reason he’s involved in politics, his uncontrollable tremors and dyskinesia still made him uncomfortable in the spotlight. However, he went ahead and made the speeches, and did the TV interviews necessary to make his point.

He even took it well when professional radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh accused him of faking his symptoms for effect when Fox appeared in a television commercial in support of a Missouri candidate for the US senate who advocated continued stem-cell research. Despite the fact that Limbaugh was seen on video in his studio mocking Fox’s tremors-which infuriated me, even though he wasn’t mocking me personally-Fox was pleased that the debate on the topic would receive so much more attention, thanks to Limbaugh’s disrespectful, ignorant antics.

This book is slimmer than his first, which disappointed me a bit. But the stories Fox tells are good, and really gave me a feel for what it must be like to have moved past the “Oh-my-God-I-have-Parkinson’s” phase of life and into the section in which you has accept the inevitable and continue on as best you can. It is, at times, funny, frustrating, and sad, but Fox is always hopeful in his tone.


http://www.lifeinthiscentury.com/michael-j-fox-is-always-looking-up-304.htm