Mike Tindall
He speaks more openly than ever about his father’s Parkinson’s disease
Mike Tindall
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In 2003, Mike Tindall’s father, Philip Tindall, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. In an interview, the athlete spoke about his father’s fate and revealed how his wife is helping him.
To have to watch how a grown, athletic man suddenly becomes a different person; For Mike Tindall, 42, this is arguably the worst change his father’s Parkinson’s diagnosis brought about. Philip Tindall, 75, has now been living with the disease for 18 years. Years that changed a lot, as his son explains in an interview with the BBC.
Mike Tindall didn’t know what to expect from his father
When Philip Tindall is diagnosed, Mike is 25 years old and at the height of his rugby career. At this point in time, he is not aware of the extent to which the disease, which attacks the central nervous system and can be accompanied by movement disorders, stiff muscles and tremors, will affect his father. “It didn’t really dawn on me what Parkinson’s was,” said Zara Tindall’s husband, 40.
Zara Tindall finally shows her cute Lucas
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Eight years later, this changes suddenly. “And then, you know, life went on. You know, I was 25. Rugby was going really well, it was kind of focused on. And then, when we got married in 2011, somewhere around that time, things started.” Mike Tindall explains, adding, “You could see the effects on him growing in the sense that he is suddenly a much smaller man than he ever was. Curvature of the spine, he had to have an operation on it. Im Then there have been a lot of other problems over the last decade. “
Mike Tindall can rely on his “brilliant” wife
Watching the disease take over his father’s body hurts the 42-year-old increasingly. “My father is used to being strong, was an athlete, played rugby, did all kinds of sports. Now all of a sudden he’s struggling to pick up a pen.”
With all the hardships, there is one force that the former rugby union player can always rely on: his wife Zara. Through her understanding she kept him “a little busy”. She has been “brilliant” all these years, according to Mike Tindall. A support that he needs.
The father of three has been a patron of the charity “Cure Parkinson” since 2018.
Sources used: hellomagazine.com