Parkinson's disease: Mike Tindall's dad on how symptoms appeared 'I tried to ignore it'
Mike Tindall’s father, Philip, would love to kick a ball around the garden with his grandchildren. But laden with an incurable illness, Philip has had to come to terms with his Parkinson’s diagnosis. It may have been around 20 years since the signs of the disease first emerged, but Philip and his wife, Linda, were made aware of Parkinson’s in 2003. “I ain’t [sic] bothered to read anything about it,” Philip admitted in a candid interview on BBC One. “I tried to ignore it, I think.”
Philip elaborated on his line of thought: “I’ve got an incurable condition, and it’s gradually going to get worse, and worse, and worse.”
The father to the 2003 World Cup champion said he was keen on “fitness and conditioning”.
“I wasn’t the one to drop the ball, I was the one to catch the ball,” he said. “And this was now not happening.”
Parkinson’s disease has caused Philip to “fumble things – and that isn’t me… I didn’t think it was me”.
READ MORE: Parkinson’s disease: Three signs in the muscles
