M*A*S*H star Alan Alda reveals secret health battle: “I’m not angry”
Actor and director Alan Alda, who is most well-known for playing Hawkeye Pierce in TV series M*A*S*H, has revealed that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three-and-a-half years ago.
The 82-year-old star revealed his secret health battle in an interview with CBS News, saying: “I’ve had a full life since then.”
“I’ve acted, I’ve given talks, I help at the Alda Centre for Communicating Science at Stony Brook [University in New York].
“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.”
The award-winning actor said he’s “not angry” about the diagnosis, but instead chose to view it as a challenge.
Alda revealed in the interview that he decided to share that he had Parkinson’s to encourage other sufferers that there are things they can still do and inspire them to “take action”.
“If you get a diagnosis,” he wrote on Twitter, “keep moving!”
The West Wing actor reiterated on Twitter that he was in good health.
“I take boxing lessons three days a week, play singles tennis twice a week, and take a mild pill — all Dr. recommended. I even juggle a little. And I’m not entering dementia. I’m no more demented than I was before. Maybe I should rephrase that,” the star wrote.
“Really, I’m good.”
Actor Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder when he was 29, and singer Neil Diamond, 77, revealed that he suffered from the disease earlier this year.
Alda said he first asked his doctors for scans after he started “acting out” his dreams, which he read was an early sign of Parkinson’s.
“I was having a dream that someone was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at them, but what I was really doing was throwing a pillow at my wife,” he told CBS.
“I didn’t have any (other) symptoms, the doctor said, ‘Why do you want a scan? You don’t have any symptoms,’ and I said, ‘I want to know if there’s anything I can do, I want to do it before things start to show up'.”
Alda sent a message to those who are suffering from the disease.
“This is not to short-change people who are suffering with really severe symptoms,” he said.
“But in the very beginning, to be immobilised by fear and think the worst thing has happened to you, it hasn’t happened to you, you still have things you can do.”