The actor discusses the death of his 92-year-old mother, Phyllis, in September.
\nMichael J. Fox has famously embraced the power of positivity over his three decades of battling Parkinson\u2019s disease. It\u2019s a trait he inherited from his mother, Phyllis, who died in September at 92.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum had a long and fulfilling life. \u201cThere was no more revered woman,\u201d Fox, 61, said. \u201cShe was a lovely lady. You were confident that you would be treated fairly. And she loved to laugh\u2014she laughed all the time.\u201d
\nPhyllis was concerned when he told her about his Parkinson\u2019s disease diagnosis in 1991 at 29.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was still working TV and movies and establishing a family when I launched the foundation,\u201d adds Fox, who married actress Tracy Pollan in 1988. Their son Sam, now 33, was born in 1989, and the couple added twin daughters Aquinnah and Schuyler \u2014 now 27 \u2014 in 1995, followed by their youngest, Esm\u00e9, 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she questioned how I did it all, I told her, \u2018I just go forward.\u2019\u201d I\u2019m not interested in taking stock or lamenting that something isn\u2019t going to happen. My mum was the same way. She\u2019d never calculate the losses. She\u2019d consider the benefits.\u201d
\nFox links his resilience lessons to his youth with his mother and father, William, who died in 1990. Fox and his four siblings watched out for one another as military kids (William spent 25 years in the Canadian forces), and Phyllis was the glue that held the family together.<\/p>\n
\u201cArmy wives are adaption masters,\u201d he says. \u201cThey just know how to handle a new scenario, get the house together, get the schools set up, get a job on the side \u2014 since military money is nothing. We didn\u2019t get it as youngsters. Now I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor, who has raised more than $1.5 billion for Parkinson\u2019s research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation, acknowledges that his armor of optimism took a beating over the last year, which included a fractured hand, shoulder, right arm, and elbow.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s upbeat today, \u201crocking and rolling\u201d as his recuperation finally comes full circle. \u201cI\u2019m just coming through where the last of my injuries are mending up; my arm feels terrific,\u201d he says. \u201cLife is fascinating. This is what you get.\u201d<\/p>\n
In rough times, Fox remembers a maxim he devised while recovering from a dangerous spinal cord surgery to remove a tumor on his spine in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can find thankfulness in anything I do and whatever scenario I\u2019m in if I can find one little thing to be grateful for, it turns the whole situation around and allows for the possibility of grace, of something great happening,\u201d the actor says. \u201cI\u2019m just getting back into that groove, so it\u2019s very good.\u201d<\/p>\n