Daily Editorials
Saturday, November 28, 1998
Medical research and Michael J. Fox
National Post
In a courageous magazine interview this week, Michael J. Fox,
Hollywood's Canadian wunderkind, revealed his seven-year battle with
Parkinson's disease. His announcement goes a long way to lifting the fog
of embarrassment that often surrounds these and other illnesses,
especially when they afflict young and successful people.
As well as a tale of personal misfortune, however, Mr. Fox's stoic
struggle with a degenerative brain illness may also serve to point up
Canada's burgeoning deficiencies in scientific research and technology.
Mr. Fox suffers from a disease caused by the gradual loss of dopamine, a
chemical that controls motor functions in the human body.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Canadian scientists, led by Dr. Oleh
Hornykiewicz of the University of Toronto, and Dr. Andre Barbeau of the
Institute de Recherche Clinique in Montreal, first discovered the
biological action of L-DOPA, a medication used to elevate dopamine
levels in the brain (brilliantly chronicled in the movie Awakenings,
starring Robin Williams). In the last decades, dopamine research has
ballooned, making Canada's laboratories the world leaders in basic
neurological research and biological psychiatry.
Mr. Fox, being young, is a suitable candidate for an uncommon but highly
effective neurosurgical procedure called pallidotomy, which, while not a
cure, can effectively reduce many of the disease's more troubling
symptoms, such as tremors, stooped posture, and shaking limbs.
Yet despite Canada's impressive leadership in the understanding of
Parkinson's disease, and despite the fact that Mr. Fox is Canadian and
so a beneficiary of medicare, no sane Canadian would advise the actor to
request a pallidotomy procedure in Canada.
According to the Fraser Institute's 1998 waiting list survey, the median
national wait to receive all forms of neurosurgery across Canada last
year was seven weeks. For less common forms of neurosurgery, like
pallidotomy, the wait is even longer. In Ontario, nearly 2,500 patients
were waiting for neurosurgery when the Fraser survey was conducted. Add
to this the necessary wait to see a specialist -- who must approve the
procedure -- after already waiting the requisite period to see your
GP...well, that's a pretty long wait, especially considering every day
counts when it comes to fast-disappearing dopamine.
It is recognized that patients tire of such waiting. But sometimes
overlooked is the reaction of scientists. They, too, can wait only so
long before they flee to friendlier pastures, as Dr. Hornykiewicz did
when the University of Vienna lured him back to Austria with a
state-of-the-art research institute.
We wish Mr. Fox and all Parkinson sufferers courage for their personal
battle, and effective compassion from the rest of us in the form of
better funding for medical research.
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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