WWE legend Dean Malenko aged 60 has revealed he is battling Parkinsonās disease.
The retired wrestler, who is admired the world over for his technical ability revealed he was diagnosis almost two years ago during an appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcastĀ
"You go through a gamut of emotions when you have it. Youāre p***ed off at the world, itās the why me? āThen you get upset when you try to button your shirt and you canāt do that. But Iām on pills and medication that have been really helping as of late. āIt started out with my left hand trembling, and I went to a couple of different doctors. There is no blood test, no urine test, nothing that actually says you have Parkinsonās."
"One thing I noticed was, when youāre walking, one arm doesnāt swing, which is usually my left. Thatās a big sign of Parkinsonās. When you are clicking your middle finger and thumb together, you are off timing, it was always my left hand, never my right. āWhen you put all these things together, itās pretty much, yeah, you have Parkinsonās. I was at three different doctors that acknowledged it at the same time. āSo itās been a little bit of a difficult ride, the hard part is just trying to live every day."
" I compare having Parkinsonās to having a roommate that never leaves. Because every morning you wake up, you have this other person with you,ā he explained. āTheyāre not going to let you get out of bed easy, theyāre going to make you shake, it takes over your body. It can be crazy at times but I am getting used to it. I try to just laugh things off. āIf Iām shaking, my 15-year-old will put her hand on me and she will start shaking, just have fun with it. Thereās nothing you can do about it. Iām not going to get rid of it, itās 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"
"When you write, you start to write smaller than you used to, because of the disease affecting your motor skills. Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed in the morning, but I donāt know if thatās Parkinsonās or the business. Itās hard to figure that part out. āMy big thing is that if you see me and Iām shaking, Iām not cold unless itās cold outside. I donāt want people second guessing, āI donāt want people feeling sorry for myself, itās just one of those things that I have and itās just another obstacle in my way."