Tying Our Ties

When you first get a diagnosis like Parkinson's, it's easy to spend a lot of time poking around on the Web. Not only is there a glut of information out there, there are all sorts of organizations. With Parkinson's, for example, there's the National Parkinson Foundation, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the American Parkinson Disease Association, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson's Action Network ... and I'm no doubt leaving out a few.

Today I've been taking a closer look at the Michael J. Fox website. While I've talked with people at the foundation a number of times in the course of our production, I have a particular reason to bone up on their work this morning: I'm interviewing Michael J. Fox tomorrow. It's been 10 years since he went public with his diagnosis and eight since he began his foundation. The whole reason for starting the foundation, Fox says, was to make a difference in the lives of patients now. His view is that our biomedical research system is broken, that it takes way too long to get from research concept to patient solution. As he notes, "I did a search on PubMed and there were 15,000 citations about Parkinson's over the past seven years. But I'm not tying my tie any faster."

So far the foundation has pumped $115 million into their research efforts. And while we all hope their efforts and those sponsored by other organizations eventually will lead to a cure, it's worth remembering that figuring out a way to cope with life's little challenges -- tying a tie, buttoning a shirt -- can make all the difference. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the difference Michael J. Fox and his foundation are trying to make from the man himself, and we'll post some footage from the interview in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, check out this U.S. News profile from last November.