PrintWith Friends Like This…..
I do not know Michael J. Fox. I have never met him. I have enjoyed his talents as an actor on such TV shows as "Family Ties" and the "Back to the Future" movies. But we have never met, In fact, he is completely unaware of my existence.
Yet, at the risk of now contradicting myself, I feel like I know him very well. He and I share something in common. We both have Parkinson's Disease. That reality connects us in a very special way. Well, it does from my side anyway (!!) and it probably would from his side if somehow he became aware of who I am and what we share in common.
I have recently finished reading Michael's 2 books - "Lucky Man" and "Always Looking Up". In these, he documents something of his life and especially his life since being diagnosed with PD. I have so much appreciated Michael's honesty and vulnerability as he has traced something of his journey with PD. There are so many aspects of this disease (and other diseases, I'm sure) that can only be understood and appreciated by those who share this journey and encounter the strange symptoms that are part of the "PD experience".
I have another friend who does know that I exist. His name is Ron and he also has PD. We attend the same Church. We find that somehow we gravitate easily to each other, not to have a two man "pity party" but because we each know something of the other's situation in a way that only those with PD can. Oh, I don't mean that we cry on each other's shoulder and lament together that we are of all men most to be pitied. On the contrary, we often laugh together as we monitor our progress and seek to be mutually supportive.
I have another friend who also knows that I exist. His name is Jesus and He has never had PD. Well, almost never. Maybe He knows more about PD than I could ever imagine or begin to understand?
Isaiah 53/4-6 talks about Jesus carrying my sin and sickness. Could this mean that, in His sacrificial death, He absorbed into His body all the consequences of sin including every sickness known to mankind? Could that include PD?
Whether that be true or not, I do know that, in Jesus, I have a companion Who has been tested at every point yet not once did He sin. The Bible is emphatic: "…He understands our weaknesses for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin". (Hebrews 4/15)
I am so grateful to have Jesus as my very understanding friend.
