Michael J. Fox’s Guide to Being a Survivor

“If I can accept the truth of ‘This is what I’m facing — not what can I expect but what I am experiencing now’ — then I have all this freedom to do other things,” says Michael J. Fox.

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Although Michael J. Fox, 63, retired from acting in 2020 after realizing that his Parkinson’s disease was making it difficult to memorize lines, he continues to be a source of inspiration.

Bill Lawrence, co-creator of the Apple TV+ hit Shrinking, told People magazine last month that he based Harrison Ford’s on-screen character, who has Parkinson’s, on his longtime friend and

colleague Fox. 

“I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be so inspiring,” says Lawrence, who worked with Fox on the late ’90 sitcom Spin City. “The way he took (his condition)

in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know.”

The five-time Emmy Award-winning actor, who first became a household name playing Alex P. Keaton on the hit 1980s sitcom Family Ties, thought his time as a public figure might be over after

being diagnosed with the incurable degenerative disease in 1991. But he’s done anything but slow down. He launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, which has

(thus far) raised $2 billion for Parkinson’s research. Last year, he received a CNN Heroes Legacy Award, and in November he walked the red carpet with his wife and four kids at the A Funny

Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson’s event. 

With a big year ahead — he was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Jan. 4 by President Joe Biden, and this summer is the 40th anniversary of

Back to the Future, perhaps his most famous movie — we revisited some of our favorite conversations with Fox over the years, dating back to 2006. Here are just a few of the words of wisdom

he’s shared with AARP over the last two decades.

civilian honor. Tom Brenner/Getty Images Never let a disease define your life

“Some days are a struggle. Some days are more difficult than others. But the disease is this thing that’s attached to my life — it isn’t the driver.”

grateful

“I also had an insight about my father-in-law, who had passed away and always espoused gratitude and acceptance and confidence. And I started to notice things I was grateful for and the way

other people would respond to difficulty with gratitude. I concluded that gratitude makes optimism sustainable. And if you don’t think you have anything to be grateful for, keep looking.

Because you don’t just receive optimism. You can’t wait for things to be great and then be grateful for that. You’ve got to behave in a way that promotes that.”