John Stapleton on Parkinson’s diagnosis: ‘See a doctor if you have doubts’

Broadcaster John Stapleton has urged others to seek help if they have “doubts” about their health after revealing his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.

The 78-year-old, who presented on programmes including Newsnight, Panorama and GMTV’s News Hour during his career, announced the news earlier this week in a video clip on BBC One’s Morning Live.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, he said: “I’m doing fine. I’m coping, I think. Learning to live with it. I think I’m fairly pragmatic about it.

“There’s no point in being miserable… It won’t ever change. I mean, Parkinson’s is here with me now for the rest of my life. Best I can do is try and control it and take the advice of all the experts.”

Parkinson’s disease is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years, with symptoms including tremors and slow movement, according to the NHS website.

Stapleton revealed he developed a tremor two or three years ago, prompting him to see a specialist who initially thought it was a benign essential tremor, before later diagnosing him with Parkinson’s disease.

Other symptoms the veteran broadcaster displayed included having trouble swallowing, his handwriting being affected, feeling fatigue, and he believes his voice has lost its “resonance”, for which he is receiving speech therapy.

He added: “I would advise anyone to take advice. One of the reasons I came out, as it were, this week with my son Nick… It was his idea to talk about it because people don’t talk about these things, not often enough. Men in particular are bad at talking about illness.

“‘Go and see a doctor’. ‘Oh, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me’.

“I know it’s not easy to see a doctor, but if you have any doubts go and see a doctor, or get in touch with Samaritans UK.”

The veteran broadcaster also encouraged others to talk and think about their future plans, as he is now considering whether he will need to have a stairlift fitted or a care plan drawn up.

Stapleton said he already suspected he might have Parkinson’s before his diagnosis because his mother had the degenerative condition and he had watched her progressively decline.

“She went from being a very lively, ebullient woman – she was the more joyous of the two, my dad is a lovely guy, but quiet – to being someone who was really a prisoner in her own home because her limbs got very sore and stiff and she used to have all sorts of problems, like peeling a potato or opening a can,” he said.

“Also hallucinations from time to time… I don’t know whether (it was) the drug she was taking or the condition itself. I never got to the bottom of that.”

He added: “It was sad to watch so obviously that’s a prospect I don’t relish, but I’ve got it, I’ll get on with it.”

Addressing his future, he said he is yet to see how effective his medication is but he is trying to remain as “optimistic as possible” and “lead as normal a life as possible”.

“I know people apparently who’ve had Parkinson’s for years and coped perfectly well. And there is help out there,” he said.

Since announcing his diagnosis through the pre-recorded message on Monday, he said the response from the public has been “absolutely overwhelming”.

“I’ve spent the last few days doing nothing but answering calls and messages, lovely messages from people, very flattering too, some of them, to the point where I thought ‘They’ve got the wrong guy’,” he added.