FROM: Daily Herald (Chicago)
Actor says stem cell issue personal, not political
BY MARNI PYKE
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Michael J. Fox played a conservative Republican on the television
series "Family Ties," but Tuesday he was clearly in the other camp.

Appearing at a rally for 6th Congressional District Democratic
candidate Tammy Duckworth Tuesday in Wheaton, the actor, who suffers
from Parkinson's disease, called for change in Congress to allow for
federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Duckworth is running
against Republican Peter Roskam.

Asked if his character in "Family Ties" Alex P. Keaton would approve,
Fox said yes.

"It's a nonpartisan problem that needs a bipartisan solution," he
said. "People on both sides of the aisle are in favor of it."

In fact, Fox said he's supported lawmakers such as Republican Sen.
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who favors the policy.

For Fox, the issue is personal because of his diagnosis with
Parkinson's in 1991. He made his condition public in 1998 and
established a foundation to raise money toward a cure.

"It's the first thing I deal with when I wake up in the morning and
the last thing I deal with when go to sleep at night," he said.

Parkinson's is a brain disorder that damages the cells that
coordinate the body's movements.

Wearing a dark suit and tie, Fox displayed the same humorous spark he
had in the blockbuster movie "Back to the Future." But the toll the
disease has taken shows in his thin face and the fidgeting and
involuntary movements that are offshoots of Parkinson's.

"There's a million little losses," he said. "I can't move the way I
used to move. There's a lack of spontaneity."

Still, he considers himself lucky.

"If you wait and pay attention, something will come in and fill that
hole. On a personal level, it made me a better parent and a better
husband. I wrote a book," he said. "It's allowed me to do this."

He passionately believes that embryonic stem cell research holds the
clue to his condition and others such as Alzheimer's disease and
diabetes.

"Seventy percent of the country is in favor of it, but it's one of
those issues that seems to be easily put aside at the last minute,"
he said. "We expected it to happen, but when President Bush vetoed
it, it just hurt. It hurt all of us."

As part of his crusade, Fox has made a commercial for Claire
McCaskill, a Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri. The commercial,
which shows Fox shaking as he speaks, was greeted with skepticism by
conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who suggested he was either
off his medication or acting.

Fox didn't rise to the bait.

"So many people speculate about your symptoms," he said. "It's a very
confusing disease for people who aren't familiar with it. On a macro
sense, nobody has the same disease. We all have our own version of
it."

The body motion he displayed in the ad is a result of dyskinesia,
involuntary movements that can be caused by Parkinson's medications,
Fox said.

"The reason we're all hoping for a cure is the efficacy of the drug
wears off after a time," he said. "Fifteen years ago, I could hide it.

"The drug is a masking agent. Then, it starts to wear off and doesn't
work as well or you get side effects from it, and then you have to
make decisions."

As he sat waiting to make his appearance, Fox acknowledged he'd
rather be home.

"My wife would rather I be home - there were four kids she had to get
ready for school today."

But the stakes are too high, he said he believes.

"The answers are there, but they're not going to fall out of a clear
blue sky. We have to take responsibility for seeking them out.

"For some people it may mean a tough choice; for some people it may
be an easy choice. But it's a choice that has to be made and we have
to be proactive," he said.

"And if it's important to us, it should not be a chip in the game but
something we claim as a right as Americans. To have our best
researchers and our best scientific minds have the support of the
government to act in our best interests for our welfare."

mpyke@dailyherald.com