Michael J. Fox received an honorary trophy at the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday night, honored for his long fight against Parkinson's disease, a diagnosis he first revealed publicly in 1998.
The 65-year-old actor, best known for playing Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy, appeared in a wheelchair and delivered an emotional speech in front of his wife, Tracy Pollan, and their four children, as he accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, named after the late comedian known for his wide-ranging charitable work.
Fox recalled that he kept his diagnosis secret at first, fearing what it might mean for his career and for his relationship with audiences, and wondering whether viewers would laugh at him once they knew he was ill.
He went on to thank his fans, saying they had been so inspiring that they gave him the sense he could keep going, and that if he never lost his career, and nothing was ever able to take it from him, it was because they had stood up for him.
Return to Shrinking
Fox announced in 2020 that he was ending his acting career as his Parkinson's symptoms worsened. He returned to the screen in January, appearing in the credits for the third season of Shrinking, the Apple TV+ comedy series.
In the show, Fox plays Gerry, a man living with Parkinson's disease who crosses paths with Paul, the lead character played by Harrison Ford, a gifted therapist who discovers he has the same disease. The diagnosis upends Paul's life much as it did Fox's own decades earlier, a touching echo of his own experience.
Michael J. Fox Foundation
Fox has contributed to Parkinson's research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which he founded in 2000. The foundation has raised more than $3 billion over the past quarter century, making it the leading private funder of Parkinson's research worldwide.
According to the latest figures cited by France Parkinson, a French patient advocacy organization, the chronic neurodegenerative disorder affects between 10 million and 12 million people worldwide.
