It’s been a tough time of late for Michael J. Fox, but the actor seems determined as ever to tackle any and all obstacles with a positive mindset.

The Back to the Future star admitted recently that his battle with Parkinson’s disease is taking an increasingly heavy toll, and spoke candidly about his own mortality in the process.

Fox told CBS Sunday Morning: “You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s … I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it. … I’m not going to be 80. I’m not going to be 80.”

Yesterday, though, there was cause for joy in the Fox household, with Michael’s son, Sam, celebrating his 34th birthday. Michael uploaded a heartfelt post to Instagram to mark the occasion, writing: “Happy Birthday to my big bouncing baby boy @palekidd you are the best. Proud to be your pops. Love you!“

Sam Michael Fox dipped his toes in the entertainment industry at an early age – when he was ten years old, he worked as an extra on Spin City. After attending Friends Seminary, a Manhattan private school, Max studied at Stanford University, graduating in 2012.

Fans have often commented in the past to point out the similarities between Sam and his famous father – the two look very alike one another.

Of late, Sam has worked on a number of productions, including the short film Good Grief and his father’s upcoming documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

Indeed, Still has been a media talking point for the past few weeks, fueled in no small part by the interviews Michael J. Fox has done to promote it. The 61-year-old’s documentary will offer viewers a never-before-seen look into Fox’s 30-year battle with Parkinson’s, and Fox himself held nothing back when discussing the details of his condition.

“I’m in intense pain. Each tremor is like a seismic jolt,” he explains in the film.

In an interview with The New York Times, meanwhile, he added: “It’s not so much pain from the movement, but from the not moving. It’s when you freeze, and in that freezing that not-movement becomes infused with all this energy, and it becomes this burning, impending thing that never happens.

“I don’t want to get the violins out. I’ve broken my hand, my elbow, my humerus, my other humerus, my shoulder, my face and some other s— too. And all that stuff is amplified by the electricity of the tremors.

“So, yes, it hurts a lot. But what you learn is that nobody gives a s—. It’s just life. It doesn’t matter. You suck it up and you move on. And there might be a story to tell in it. But only that. There’s no chit that you can present to a window for a refund.”

Fox, who officially retired from acting in 2021, caused alarm back in March when he told CBS Sunday Morning: “I’m not gonna lie. It’s gettin’ hard, it’s gettin’ harder. It’s gettin’ tougher. Every day it’s tougher. But, but, that’s, that’s the way it is. I mean, you know, who do I see about that?”