Reverend Jesse Jackson announced that he has Parkinson’s disease in a statement posted on his Twitter account today. The 76-year-old civil rights leader said that the diagnosis came after he found it “increasingly difficult to perform routine tasks.”
“My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago,” he wrote. “After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father.”
But Jackson said he won’t let the neurological disorder stop him from doing his life’s work. “For me, a Parkinson’s diagnosis is not a stop sign but rather a signal that I must make lifestyle changes and dedicate myself to physical therapy in hopes of slowing the disease’s progression.”
“This diagnosis is personal but it is more than that,” he added. “It is an opportunity for me to use my voice to help in finding a cure for a disease that afflicts 7 to 10 million worldwide.”
The Rev. Was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton and he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. He says this diagnosis will give him “new opportunities to serve.”
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