Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson Reveals Battle With Parkinson's After 2013 Diagnosis
The senator was diagnosed in 2013.
— -- Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., announced today he is battling Parkinson’s disease.
"Over 1 million Americans have Parkinson's and I am one of them," Isakson, 70, said in a statement Wednesday.
After experiencing stiffness in his left arm in 2012, he consulted a neurologist and was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2013, revealing it publicly for the first time today. Isakson said he only recently shared the news with his three children and senior staff a few months ago.
“While I am facing this health challenge head on, I have wrestled with whether to disclose it publicly," he said. "I decided I should handle my personal health challenge with the same transparency that I have championed throughout my career."
The senator and former House member representing the northern suburbs of Atlanta said he has gone through physical therapy, does exercises twice a day and takes two Parkinson’s medications.
"I am in the early stages of the disease, and my main symptoms are the stiffness in my left arm and slowed, shuffling gait," he said.
The senator, in office since 2005, still plans to run for re-election in 2016. He’s chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, as well the committee on veteran’s affairs.
“My diagnosis has not impacted my ability to represent the state of Georgia in the U.S. Senate,” he said. “I am serving on five Senate committees and am the only Republican serving as chairman of two Senate committees. I am busier and have more responsibility today than ever before in my political career, and I couldn’t be happier about that.”