- Canadian-American actor and advocate Michael J. Fox is releasing a memoir entitled No Time Like the Future. In No Time Like the Future, Fox will share personal stories and insights about illness.
- Free download or read online Lucky Man: A Memoir pdf (ePUB) book. The first edition of the novel was published in 2002, and was written by Michael J. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of 272 pages and is available in Paperback format. The main characters of this non fiction, biography story are Michael J. The book has been awarded with Audie.
- This is a candid memoir and account about Michael J. Fox's career and struggle with Parkinson's disease which has affected his career and life so profoundly. Michael was the prime star in the television series Family Ties and the Back to the Future movies to name some of his work.
- In his memoir, Michael J. Fox called Gus a 'wonder dog' for being a constant source of support in his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease By Gabrielle Chung April 12, 2021 11:41 PM.
Chapter One: A Wake-up Call
In this exclusive interview with Michael J. Fox, the beloved actor and philanthropist opens up about his new memoir, “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Co.
Gainsville, Florida - November 1990
No Time Like The Future
Michael J Fox Memoir
I woke up to find the message in my left hand. It had me trembling. It wasn't a fax, telegram, memo, or the usual sort of missive bringing disturbing news. In fact, my hand held nothing at all. The trembling was the message.
I was feeling a little disoriented. I'd only been shooting the movie in Florida for a week or so, and the massive, pink-lacquered, four-poster bed surrounded by the pastel hues of the University Center Hotel's Presidential Suite still came as a bit of a shock each morning. Oh yeah: and I had a ferocious hangover. That was less shocking.
It was a Tuesday morning, so while I couldn't recall the exact details of the previous night's debauchery, it was a pretty safe bet that it had something to do with Monday Night Football. In those first few seconds of consciousness, I didn't know what time it was, but I could be fairly certain that I hadn't overslept. If I was needed on set, there would have been a phone call from my assistant, Brigette. If I had to leave the hotel at 10:00A.M., let's say, she would have called at 9:30, again at 9:40, then at 9:50 she would have taken the elevator from her floor up to mine, let herself into my room, propelled me to the shower, and slipped into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. None of that having transpired, I knew I had at least a few minutes.
Even with the lights off, blinds down, and drapes pulled, an offensive amount of light still filtered into the room. Eyes clenched shut, I placed the palm of my left hand across the bridge of my nose in a weak attempt to block the glare. A moth's wing - or so I thought - fluttered against my right cheek. I opened my eyes, keeping my hand suspended an inch or two in front of my face so I could finger-flick the little beastie across the room. That's when I noticed my pinkie. It was trembling, twitching, auto-animated. How long this had been going on I wasn't exactly sure. But now that I noticed it, I was surprised to discover that I couldn't stop it.
Weird - maybe I slept on it funny. Five or six times in rapid succession I pumped my left hand into a fist, followed by a vigorous shaking out. Interlocking the fingers of each hand steeple-style with their opposite number, I lifted them up and over behind my head and pinned them to the pillow.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Like a moisture-free Chinese water torture, I could feel a gentle drumming at the back of my skull. If it was trying to get my attention, it had succeeded. I withdrew my left hand from behind my head and held it in front of my face, steadily, with fingers splayed - like the bespectacled X-ray glasses geek in the old comic book ad. I didn't have to see the underlying skeletal structure; the information I was looking for was right there in the flesh: a thumb, three stock-still fingers, and out there on the lunatic fringe, a spastic pinkie.
It occurred to me that this might have something to do with my hangover, or more precisely, with alcohol. I'd put away a lot of beers in my time, but had never woken up with the shakes; maybe this was what they called delirium tremens? I was pretty sure they would manifest themselves in a more impressive way - I mean, who gets the d.t.'s in one finger? Whatever this was, it wasn't alcoholic deterioration.
Now I did a little experimentation, I found that if I grabbed my finger with my right hand, it would stop moving. Released, it would keep still for four or five seconds, and then, like a cheap wind-up toy, it would whir back to life again. Hmmm. What had begun as curiosity was now blossoming into full-fledged worry. The trembling had been going on for a few minutes with no sign of quitting and my brain, fuzzy as it was, scrambled to come up with an explanation. Had I hit my head, injured myself in some way? The tape of the previous night's events was grainy at best. There were a lot of blank spots on it, but there were a couple of possibilities too. Woody Harrelson was in Gainesville with me on this film, and he had been in the bar the night before - maybe we'd had one of our legendary drunken slap fights. Woody and I were (and remain) close friends, but for some reason after an indeterminable amount of alcohol consumption, we'd find some excuse to start kicking over chairs and stage elaborate mock brawls. No harm was intended, and the majority of punches were pulled, but Woody is a foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than me, which meant that whenever the game got out of hand, I was always the one that took the most serious ass-kicking. So maybe I'd caught a Harrelson haymaker to the side of the head.
Copyright 2002 Michael J. Fox. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the Publisher, Hyperion Books.
Michael J. Fox, star of “Back to the Future” and other blockbuster movies became the world’s most prominent advocate for the fight against Parkinson’s disease after he was diagnosed with the illness decades ago. He has recently published a fourth memoir that reveals his ways of coping with the challenges that the progressing syndrome has placed on his life. “No Time Like the Future” reveals his recent battles with being confined to a wheelchair and other events that followed injury and spinal surgery.
In the memoir, Fox describes his surgery to remove a tumor from his spine two years ago. The growth was benign, but the actor went through a difficult recovery period that required him to regain his ability to walk. During his rehabilitation, the actor suffered a fall in his kitchen that severely injured his arm. He had to receive a complicated surgery to save the limb that involved 19 pins and a plate to keep the arm together.
These recent unfortunate events made him rethink the message he was sending to people in his first three memoirs. He began to think that hopefulness might not be the best advice for some people. In a recent interview, Fox explained that he felt some guilt about the first three memoirs. He wanted to tell people who suffer from difficult life challenges that things will be okay, but he realized that sometimes things don’t turn out as you hope they will.
Michael J Fox Memoir
Fox decided to write a fourth memoir with a more honest approach in mind. In the new book, Fox gives his perspective on life when one is forced to travel in a wheelchair. He explains what it’s like when all your movements are under control of the person who is pushing your chair, and he describes how it limits your freedom and power over your life choices. He confessed that his voice would become louder and more demanding to compensate for this insecure feeling.
The actor revealed that his mobility often was in the hands of strangers such as hotel or airport employees. He described these encounters as feeling like he was a piece of luggage, but he admits that he could have found some humanity between himself and his helpers if he tried.
Michael J Fox Memoir About Cancer
Aside from his recent health challenges, the new memoir also provides information about his life with his four adult children and his career. He reveals new details about his decision to stop acting. He wrote in the book that he foresees a near future where Parkinson’s will render him unable to talk without the aid of drugs. He also told interviewers that the book is as much a love letter to his wife as anything because she provided a great deal of help to him throughout his years of dealing with Parkinson’s disease.