Did I hear Richard Lewis has Parkinson's Disease and what do I think about it?
Alan Alda. Linda Ronstadt. Jesse Jackson. Ozzy Osbourne. Neil Diamond. Their commonality is they all have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease within the last ten years. Muhammad Ali. Janet Reno. Bob Hoskins. Billy Graham. Maurice White. All of them have died from complications of the disease in that same time period.
It’s quite the club. There is only one requirement to become a member….a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. It’s a fairly exclusive club. There are only about one million members in the United States. I joined in 2012. I’d rather not be in this club, but there isn’t much I can do about that; nor can anyone else.
There is one thing about having Parkinson’s and being open about it…people have questions. Whenever a celebrity comes forward with their PD diagnosis, I inevitably hear from someone two things: “Did you hear so and so has Parkinson’s?” and “What do you think about so and so having Parkinson’s?”
It happened again on Monday. Comedian Richard Lewis announced that he has Parkinson’s Disease and that he’ll be retiring from performing his stand-up comedy act. That led to getting those questions again. Here are the answers:
Yes, I heard about it. In almost every case, I know about it before someone tries to spring it on me. Membership in the club does have its benefits and this is one of them. Pssss….I’m only joking about that…sort of. And what do I think? Well, it’s the same as hearing anyone has been diagnosed with any disease. I’m sad and I’m sorry they’ll be going through whatever happens. However, I can’t predict what is going to happen. Every case of Parkinson’s is different. It affects people in different ways. There’s no way of seeing into the future.
So, that’s the latest entry into the world of celebrity Parkinson’s Disease. My hope is the next time it occurs, and it will sooner than later, that Richard, Alan, Linda, Jesse, Ozzy, Neil and myself are still around to be asked about it because I’m sure we will. But, it’s okay. I have my answer ready. It never changes.