John Stapleton says ‘you can’t escape these things’ as he opens up about Parkinson’s diagnosis
JOHN Stapleton has opened up about his Parkinson’s diagnosis as the TV host admitted ‘you can’t escape these things’.
The 78-year-old veteran broadcaster shocked fans and former colleagues when he announced he was battling the disease last month.
John – who has presented a raft of news programmes on the BBC and ITV for over five decades – spoke about his health during a TV appearance with his son Nick.
And now the star has candidly opened up about his life while living with Parkinson’s as he keeps a positive outlook.
He said: “You can’t escape these things as you grow older, these kinds of developments are sort of inevitable.
“You learn to live with it, get on with it and try to be as positive as you can.”
Since going public with his diagnosis, John has been inundated with “hundreds and hundreds” of messages and emails.
The former anchor is also aiming to walk over 5,000 steps a day to keep his fitness levels up, and regularly sees a speech therapist after signs his speech was deteriorating.
John admitted it was his son Nick – who also stars on TV – that wanted to publicise his health battle.
He continued to The Mirror: “He wanted to make a little film about role reversal. As a parent, you spend your life looking after your kids. But there comes the time when your kids look after you and [there are] difficult questions you ask about the future.
“I remember vividly the impact on my mother. She had a tremor and the doctor said, ‘It’ll take about five years to set in.’ And he was spot on.
“It was really sad to see my mother’s decline because she was lively and brilliant – the life and soul of the party. My dad was different. He was lovely but shy, retiring.
“Mother became very frail, almost a prisoner in her own home. Playing the game, as it were, with Parkinson’s, is not a prospect I relish. However, you’ve got to think positive. Lynn used to say ‘No point in worrying about things you can’t change’.”
Stapleton concluded: “Parkinson’s is not going to go away, so learn to live with it.
“I take the best advice I can from my neurologist, from my speech therapist, and get on with it.”
John’s wife and former BBC Watchdog presenter Lynn Faulds Wood sadly passed away in April 2020, at the age of 72 after a stroke.
He first joined the BBC in 1975 as a reporter for BBC Nationwide, before moving onto other roles within the corporation such as working on Panorama.
He briefly left the BBC in 1983, joining ITV’s TV-AM for two years.
John returned to the Beeb in 1986 and co-hosted Watchdog alongside Lynn.
The dad-of-one returned to ITV in the noughties and hosted GMTV, before moving to Daybreak.
Everything you need to know about Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition, meaning that it causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time.
It affects around 153,000 people in the UK.
People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of the chemical dopamine because some of the nerve cells that make it have stopped working.
This can cause a range of more than 40 symptoms, but the three main ones are:
- Tremor (shaking)
- Slow movement
- Rigidity (muscle stiffness)
Other common signs include:
- Mild memory and thinking problems
- Trouble sleeping
- Issues with balance
- Pain
- Anxiety and depression
- Shuffling walk with very small steps
- Difficulty making facial expressions
- Loss of sense of smell
- Problems peeing
- Constipation
The four main ways of managing Parkinson’s include medication, staying active, exploring occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language therapy, and monitoring symptoms.
Source: Parkinson’s UK and NHS