Editor’s Note: Michael J. Fox’s one-hour special, "Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist," airs May 7 on ABC and follows the actor and activist as he travels the globe to explore the healing power of positive thinking. Dr. Holly Andersen, who is dual board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, talked one-on-one with Fox about his recent book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, upcoming projects and his enduring power as he struggles with Parkinson’s Disease.

It was a few summers ago when Michael told me he was writing his second book. What’s it on? "Optimism," he said. I smiled. After being in medicine for 20 years, I understood the power of optimism. Second maybe only to humor, optimism keeps people healthy and helps heal those who are not. Michael is funny, and like all funny people I know, he is smart. His natural ability to make people laugh paired with his seasoned optimism is a potent formula. I smiled because I knew this book could touch people, it would inspire. It does just that. 

Always Looking Up is a candid, personal journey of an introspective, refreshingly humble man, husband, father, friend, star and now political advocate making his way through his 40s, struggling against a disease we have yet to cure. He still describes himself as the “lucky man.” He believes that whatever choices may have been taken from him because of his Parkinson’s, they have been replaced with better ones. 

Michael answered a few questions for wowOwow. Read on … 

wOw: What do you do for stress reduction?

MICHAEL J. FOX: Stress exacerbates my symptoms. In big public settings, I always look for an out – a hallway or a room where I can go if my symptoms get hard to control. [The book describes such an occasion when Michael is forced to leave a crowded sushi restaurant only to be stuck out in the pouring rain and mistaken for a junkie needing a fix by a dealer hiding in the alley across the street.]

I attempt to get into a certain frame of mind. A frame of mind that excludes thoughts about anything I cannot control. I also spend time with my kids. That is always a good place to be. I never regret leaving whatever I am doing for my kids.

wOw: You are so accomplished. What’s next?

MJF: I am so exhausted right now. I have just finished this book, filming "Rescue Me" and I have a television special coming up. I didn’t plan this vortex; it just happened. I want to relax and enjoy time with my family this summer. Someday there will be another vortex. I would like to write a novel – that would be fun. And I want to keep the foundation vital and forward looking. I want to help the people who become involved to find the breakthroughs we need.

wOw: What would you say to a 30-year-old man just diagnosed with Parkinson’s?

MJF: Take your time; don’t think you have to plan everything now. Try to accept it; the extent it is fact, you don’t have a choice that you have it, but you have a thousand choices of how to respond to having it. It does not define you. You are still you. You may change physically for the worst, but you may positively change emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Inform yourself, take care of yourself, and roll with the punches.

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More than one million Americans currently live with Parkinson’s. It is a complex disease that varies greatly among individuals. The most recognized symptom of Parkinson’s disease is tremor, but many are more severely affected by stiffness or rigidity. Slowness in movement and postural instability (impaired balance and coordination) and lack of facial expressions are common. Symptoms are often subtle and occur gradually, but in some patients, the disease is of rapid onset and progression. Many people with Parkinson’s also experience emotional changes (especially depression), sleep disturbance, constipation and difficulty chewing, swallowing or speaking. The disease most often affects people older than 50, but younger people like Michael, who was diagnosed at the age of 30, are stricken as well.