Parkinson's Awareness Month:30 Days-30 Stories/ Day Three- The Michael J. Fox Foundation

 Everyone recognizes this guy. Michael J. Fox is known worldwide.

He's been a huge television star through his roles in Family Ties and Spin City. He's starred in the Back To The Future series of movies.

Since 1998, he's been starring in the biggest role of his career. Michael is the face of Parkinson's Disease. It's not a part anyone would really want. 

Fox was diagnosed with Young-onset P.D. in 1991. He went public with the disease in 1998. In 2000, he left Spin City to concentrate on his health and his family. Later that year he started the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

In fourteen years the foundation has funded $450,000,000 in research. I repeat..$450 Million for Parkinson's research.

They fund clinical trials on medicines and other treatments. The money gives them the opportunity to do projects such as are their connections between Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. It's very important, life-saving work.

Give the lion's share of credit to Michael J. Fox. His likability plus his dedication to this work has made all of this possible. If you don't believe that, check out foundations for other diseases to see the comparisons.

Besides MJF, the Foundation has a team of workers dedicated to finding a cure for P.D.

I also want to mention the people at The National Parkinson's Disease Foundation. They concentrate on Awareness while the Fox Foundation works on research. Both groups say they work well with each other. That's not always the case with other charity groups.

Most importantly, both groups try to make life better for people with Parkinson's Disease. Both their websites and Facebook pages feature advice and question/answer sections.

For more information on both foundations, check out their websites www.michaeljfox.org/   www.parkinson.org/

Tomorrow:Day Four- Sex and Music produce Dopamine