This book was condensed in Reader's Digest July 2002. Fox has early on-set Parkinson's disease.
When I read that, I thought of my ex-neighbor, Mr. Tang. About fourteen years ago, I was staying in a semi-detached house in Silver City. Elizabeth was in Elementary school then. We had a happy few years rearing chickens in the land by the side of our house. As I worked in the kitchen, I would see Mr. Tang walking back and forth in his garden. Most of the time, he walked at measured pace. But now and again, he would stagger and then freeze in mid-stride. There he would remain, sweating and with an intent look in his eyes. Some times his wife would come and rescue him by pulling and pushing him back into his walking therapy. Other times the maid would come out to assist him back to the house.
By the time I moved away, nobody but his wife and the maid could understand what he was saying in tiny mewing sounds. According to Mrs Tang, the specialist gave him five years at the time of diagnosis. By the time I met them, it had been seven years. But with relentless daily exercise, nutritious blended food force fed and careful nursing, he is still alive today. The main strategy is not to up his medication until and unless he really needs it to function.
Nobody knows what causes Parkinson's. But Mrs Tang wondered if it was partly due to excessive hours of basketball playing for many years. Mr. Tang represented his schools and college in basketball tournaments and continue to play into his forties in his company team. It must be added torture for such an active man to have his body dissociated from the control of his brain.
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