Always Looking Up

“As I awaken, before my conscious mind really knows what’s happening, my body has already gotten the news to twist, twitch and contort … At the turn from our bedroom into the hallway, there is an old full-length mirror in a wooden frame … This reflected version of myself, shaking, rumpled, pinched and slightly stooped, would be alarming were it not for the self-satisfied expression pasted across my face. I would ask the obvious question, “What are you smiling about?” but I already know the answer: “It just gets better from here.”

Struck with Parkinson’s – a debilitating, degenerative disease – at the height of his fame, Michael J. Fox has taken what some might consider cause for depression and turned it into a beacon of hope for millions. In this continuation of his Sunday Times bestselling memoir, Lucky Man, he writes with warmth, humour and incredible honesty about the journey he has undertaken since he came to terms with his condition.

“For everything Parkinson’s 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 this disease, I’ve learned that what is important is making that one step count – always looking up?”