Lady Gaga opens up about her fight with chronic illness

Michael J. Fox, who was catapulted into a limelight after playing a leading role in the 1985 movie “Back to the Future,” must have been on cloud nine back then. The good comes with the bad. Six years later, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at 30. He once hit the bottle and blamed God but he was resilient.

After opening up his illness in 1998, he created a namesake foundation. He did not give in to his destiny and took the lead in combating Parkinson’s disease. His memoir “Lucky Man” talks about his tough life journey. He described himself as a “lucky man” as the disease made him stronger and wiser. If Fox raised awareness about Parkinson’s disease, actress Angelina Jolie contributed to raising awareness of breast cancer.

The sexy actress of our time unveiled in the New York Times in 2013 that she had a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer caused by a genetic mutation. This raised awareness of breast cancer caused by a genetic mutation in Korea. Lady Gaga recently unveiled in a documentary film titled “Five Foot Two” at the Toronto Film Festival that she has a chronic illness called fibromyalgia, which causes pain on her body for a long time. Around four million patients suffer from the illness in the U.S. The pop singer with over 70 million followers said on Twitter on Tuesday, “In our documentary the #chronicillness #chronicpain I deal w/ is #Fibromyalgia I wish to help raise awareness & connect people who have it.”

Celebrities make great contributions to medicine beyond pop culture. If a celebrity unveils one’s illness, financial support and the public attention are given to find out how to prevent the disease and how to treat it. This is why they open up their privacy. They send a ray of hope for those who suffer. Their message of “Don’t give up” to patients can be a contribution that only celebrities can make for society.