Franceschini: “I live with Parkinson’s. The diagnosis was a terrible blow”

Dario Franceschini has spoken publicly for the first time about living with Parkinson’s disease, calling the November 2020 diagnosis “a terrible blow.”

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I have Parkinson’s. I was diagnosed in November 2020.

The Democratic Party senator and former culture minister told Corriere della Sera that he initially tried to conceal the illness. He said people with Parkinson’s can feel ashamed because the disease may affect speech, walking or movement. Franceschini had previously suffered a heart attack in 2014, but described those earlier health problems as incidents that many people might anticipate. Parkinson’s, he said, is different because it stays with a person.

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The diagnosis was a terrible blow.

He decided to discuss his condition after weighing the advantages and disadvantages of making it public. His message to other people with Parkinson’s was direct: “Do not isolate yourselves, continue to live.” He said medication matters, but patients also need to fill their days with things to accomplish and repeat to themselves: “I do not give up, I continue to live, I continue to be present.”

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It is essential not to become discouraged, to wake up in the morning with something to accomplish. To fight Parkinson’s, beyond medication, it is decisive to fill your days and repeat to yourself: I do not give up, I continue to live, I continue to be present.

Franceschini said the illness had also changed his relationship with politics. It reduced his personal ambitions and weakened the sense of invulnerability that politicians are often expected to project. Still, he said Parkinson’s affects the body rather than cognitive abilities. He has slowed his work and adapted its pace, while continuing with telephone calls, meetings and other political activity.

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I decided it was right to describe this particular season of my life. To tell all the other Parkinson’s patients: do not isolate yourselves, continue to live.