Civil Rights Activist Jesse Jackson Diagnosed With Parkinson’s Disease

By  //  November 17, 2017

Prominent civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he announced Friday. (History Image)

(NBC NEWS) – Prominent civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he announced Friday.

“My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago,” Jackson said in a statement. “After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father.”

A neurological disorder with no known cure, Parkinson’s is commonly associated with tremors, stiffness and difficulty with walking and balancing.

Jackson also said that “recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful” and that he has “been slow to grasp the gravity of it.”

Jackson, 76, was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and later became known for participating in civil rights demonstrations alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He later ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

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