Bill Plaschke, the award-winning Los Angeles Times columnist and longtime ‘Around the Horn’ panelist on ESPN, revealed this week that he has Parkinson’s disease. He made the announcement as part of an LA Times column about a boxing program he attends for those trying to slow the effects of the condition.
‘I’ve got Parkinson’s, and it hurts to even say it,’ Plaschke wrote. ‘I’m still mobile, still active, I don’t have the trademark tremors that distinguish the famously afflicted Michael J. Fox or the late Muhammed Ali but, damn it, I’ve got it.’
Plaschke, 66, noted that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s four years ago after feeling weakness in his right arm, but had only told his family until now. The neurodegenerative disease has no cure and progressively impacts how a person moves and speaks.
Plaschke wrote that it’s a struggle for him to get dressed and ‘my pills come in gallon jugs and I spend entire Dodger games trying to discreetly swallow them in the press box.’
‘I don’t smile as much now,’ he added. ‘It’s harder to smile when afflicted with the trademark Parkinson’s masked face. When I FaceTime with my darlin Daisy, I worry she won’t see past my dour expression and never know how much her granddaddy loves her.’
He was also one of the original panelists on ‘Around the Horn,’ beginning in 2002, and remained a regular contributor to the show until its 23-year run ended last month.
Plaschke sounded a hopeful note at the end of his column, citing the inspiration provided by Kaizen Kinetics and everyone else dealing with Parkinson’s disease through its boxing program.
‘I have Parkinson’s,’ Plaschke wrote, ‘But, by God, it doesn’t have me.’