So what I say about Tracy is this: Tracy's big challenge is not having a Parkinson's patient for a husband. It's having me for a husband. I happen to be a Parkinson's patient.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In fact, Parkinson's has made me a better person. A better husband, father and overall human being.
As a practicing neurologist, I can tell you first hand that working with Parkinson's patients offers clinical challenges. But from an emotional perspective, this disease can border on overwhelming.
To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.
Increasingly we know that we're going to have multiple medical conditions, and the person who's got the greatest incentive to manage those conditions is the patient him or herself.
You can have a very bad end with Parkinson's, but on the other hand, you can be like me, because I'm lucky. I'm not having a bad end.
Parkinson's is very hard to diagnose. So when I finally went to a neurologist, and he said, 'Oh, you have Parkinson's disease,' I was completely shocked.
People with Parkinson's are not some weird people on the edge of human experience.
I have been able to have a family and to dedicate quality time to my two sets of twins and my husband, as well as to serve on the boards of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Montefiore Medical Center.
You know, in playing a role like this, you really want to get it right, because this is a person who was revered by so many doctors, women doctors especially.
The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.