Longtime L.A. Times Columnist Bill Plaschke Reveals He’s Battling Serious Disease

Plaschke says he's battling Parkinson's.

Bill Plaschke revealed he is battling Parkinson's disease. / @ESPN

Longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke revealed that he is battling Parkinson's disease.

The 66-year-old Plaschke formally revealed the diagnosis in a Sunday column, where he said he's turned to a boxing regiment to combat the effects of the disease.

"I, too, am living with Parkinson's disease," Plaschke wrote. "The irony, huh? I’ve spent my entire career writing triumphant stories about athletes overcoming illness and adversity, only to reach the home stretch struggling to find a similar triumph in a story about me. It’s not easy. Now I know what all those subjects of all those feel-good stories understood about the truth behind my positive prose. Degenerative disease sucks beyond any inspirational adjective. Incurable illness stinks beyond any hopeful headline."

Plaschke went on to say that he was diagnosed four years ago after being seen by a doctor for weakness in his right arm. While he said the weakness in his arm has subsided, it is much more difficult to do everyday tasks than it once was.

With that said, Plaschke is using regular exercise to slow the disease's progression. Boxing has been the outlet for him.

"If my boxing classmates can have the strength to sweat through their tremors and wallop through their fears, then I can certainly have the strength to celebrate them without worrying what sort of light it casts on me. I’m proud to be one of them, and the purpose of this column is to reflect that pride and perhaps make it easier for other folks afflicted with Parkinson’s to come out swinging."

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