Washington: Hollywood actor Alan Alda has revealed that he has Parkinson’s disease.
The veteran actor appeared on ‘CBS This Morning’ on Tuesday, where he said that he was diagnosed with the illness about three and a half years ago.
Alan said he has had a “full life” ever since he got to know about the disease. “I’ve acted, I’ve given talks, I help at the Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook. I started this new podcast. And I noticed that – I had been on television a lot in the last couple of weeks talking about the new podcast – and I could see my thumb twitch in some shots and I thought, ‘It’s probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad point of view, but that’s not where I am.” He said.
The actor decided to go for a scan, even though he did not have any symptoms yet, after reading an article that said acting out on your dreams can be seen as one of the early signs of the disorder. It was months before the actor noticed a twitch in his thumb.
The 82-year-old said, “I want to know if there’s anything I can do, I wanted to do it before things start to show up. The things I want folks to know and this is not to shortchange people who are suffering with really severe symptoms, in the very beginning, to be immobilized by fear and think the worst thing has happened to you, it hasn’t happened to you.”
“I was mainly helping my family not be worried. It’s common for us all to go to the worst thought.” He added.
The actor marches to Sousa music and takes boxing lessons three times a week.
Alda’s past credits include “M*A*S*H*,” “The Aviator,” “Tower Heist,” and “The West Wing”. (ANI)