Fox created the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support research in finding a cure for Parkinson’s.

Fox received much attention when he went public with the disease, and even received a call from Muhammad Ali. “For some reason, I returned his call from the phone in my bathroom. In the mirror I could see my eyes welling up as he said, in his eloquent whisper, ’I’m sorry you have this, but with both of us in this fight, we’re going to win now.’”

Fox realised that it was no longer a question of if Parkinson’s could be cured, but when. Thus began his involvement in senate hearings and the creation of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

“Our sole concern,” says Fox, “is to identify the best research and then to raise money and distribute it to the scientists conducting that research as quickly as possible. Our goal as an institution is nothing less than planned obsolescence.”