Dean Malenko on his battle with Parkinson’s Disease
On how he approaches everyday life with Parkinson’s: “One thing I noticed was when you’re walking, one arm doesn’t swing, which is usually my left. That’s a big sign of Parkinson’s. When you are clicking your middle finger and thumb together, you are off timing. It was always my left hand, never my right. When you put all these things together, it’s pretty much, yeah, you have Parkinson’s. I was at three different doctors that acknowledged it at the same time. So, it’s been a little bit of a difficult ride. The hard part is just trying to live every day. I compare having Parkinson’s to having a roommate that never leaves. Because every morning you wake up, you have this other person with you.
“They’re not going to let you get out of bed easy, they’re going to make you shake, and it takes over your body. It can be crazy at times, but I am getting used to it. I have really tried to just laugh things off. If I’m shaking, my 15-year-old will put her hand on me and she will start shaking. Just have fun with it because there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m not going to get rid of it. It’s always going to be there. Hopefully, with modern medicine going forward, they can slow this down at one point. If not, I will deal with it whenever.”
Malekno said he is 60 now and has had Parkinson’s 6-7 years now but not a lot of people know about it.