In 2004, Frontline correspondent 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 more than one million Americans, the causes of which remain largely unknown and the cure for which has proved frustratingly elusive.
In "My Father, My Brother and Me," airing Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2 and Monday, Feb. 16 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET1, Iverson sets off on a personal journey to understand the disease that has taken such a toll on his family. Along the way, he meets some remarkable people -- a leading Parkinson's researcher whose encounter with "frozen" heroin addicts led to a major breakthrough; a Parkinson's sufferer given a new lease on life by an experimental brain surgery; and a geneticist who helped identify some of the gene mutations responsible for Parkinson's and who i s now working on drugs to fix them.
Iverson also has intimate conversations with fellow Parkinson's sufferers actor Michael J. Fox and writer Michael Kinsley, who describe how they became caught up in the politics of Parkinson's research after the Bush administration greatly restricted federal funding for promising stem cell research in 2001, three years before Iverson got his diagnosis.
Until recently, genetics was thought to play no real role in Parkinson's disease at all, but Iverson's family history leads him to enroll in a genetic study at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. To date, researchers have identified at least six genes where mutations can cause Parkinson's, and while the familial form of the disease remains unusual, it may provide researchers with a ready-made target to fix the genes. "We're a lot closer than we were 10 years ago," says Mayo Clinic geneticist Matthew Farrer, "a lot closer."
Approximately 12,000 Kentuckians have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, and an additional 600 w ill be diagnosed each year. The Kentucky Parkinson's Disease and Information Referral Center provides information and support for Parkinson's patients, family members and caregivers. Kentuckians may contact the center at 866-554-APDA (2732). More information about Parkinson's resources, including a link to Frontline's live online chat with Iverson following the premiere of "My Father, My Brother and Me," is available at www.ket.org/health/parkinson.htm.
Frontline is produced by WGBH/Boston.
