April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month – Watch My Father, My Brother, and Me on PBS.org

Dave Iverson and his father

As many as 1.5 million people in the United States are afflicted with Parkinson’ s Disease. And while research using stem cells shows promise and has resumed under the Obama Administration, there is still no cure. About $25 billion dollars is spent on the treatment of and care for Parkinsonian patients every year.

In honor of Parkinson’s Awareness Month, we direct your attention to a moving and informative ITVS film called My Father, My Brother, and Me, which was recently broadcast on Frontline and is currently available to watch for free online at PBS.org.

Producer Dave Iverson began making the film after he was diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease, just as his father and brother had before him. Featuring interviews with Parkinson’s sufferers Michael Kinsley and Charles Krauthammer, and research scientist Dr. William Langston, the film is part elegy and part rigorous investigation into the mysteries that surround the disease and the controversy surrounding the research into its cure.

Check out the My Father, My Brother, and Me companion website for a wealth of behind-the-scenes video, including an exclusive interview with actor and stem-cell research advocate Michael J. Fox.

Watch the trailer below:

Tags: Cure, Frontline, Michael J. Fox, Parkinson's Disease, PBS

FRONTLINE and ITVS Explore Parkinson’s Disease

David Iverson and his father, Bill, in 1949.

Next Tuesday, February 3 at 9:00 PM on PBS, FRONTLINE, in a co-production with ITVS, will present MY FATHER, MY BROTHER AND ME, a film that explores life with Parkinson’s disease.

In 2004, journalist Dave Iverson received the same news that had been delivered to his father and older brother years earlier: He had Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological disorder that affects about one million Americans. In a FRONTLINE and ITVS joint production, Iverson sets off on a personal journey to explore the scientific, ethical and political debate that surrounds Parkinson’s, a disease at the center of the ongoing controversy over embryonic stem cell research. Iverson talks to scientists on the cutting edge of new cures and therapies for Parkinson’s and other major neurological conditions, and he has intimate conversations with fellow Parkinson’s sufferers like actor Michael J. Fox and writer Michael Kinsley.

Can’t wait until next Tuesday? FRONTLINE is pre-releasing the program today in high-quality streaming video.

Watch MY FATHER MY BROTHER AND ME on the FRONTLINE Web site >>

Check out excerpts from the upcoming broadcast below:

Michael J. Fox shares the story of his diagnosis and how he copes from day to day.

IS EXERCISE THE ANSWER? Dave Iverson finds out what monkeys on treadmills are teaching scientists about Parkinson’s.

Tags: Frontline, Parkinson's Disease