Dean Malenko Opens Up About Living With Parkinson’s

AEW Senior Producer and Coach Dean Malenko has discussed his battle with Parkinson’s, and what it’s like living with the condition.

Wrestling veteran Dean Malenko was often cited as one of the most underrated wrestlers while active. Recently, Malenko has discussed living with Parkinson’s disease.

On Talk Is Jericho, Malenko recalled being nervous for a Starrcast appearance, because he hadn’t been in front of many crowds since developing his condition.

Discussing different coping mechanisms, Malenko explained how his family help him deal with his condition with humor.

Here are the full quotes:

“What happened was I’m 60 years old. They say usually around 60 is the age when you start to get it. I got it about six – seven years ago. About a year ago, I was at Starrcast in Chicago, and I was asked to do a Q&A session with Tony Schiavone. And I got a little nervous and a little scared because I was going to be out in front of people. I haven’t really been in front of crowds a lot. Of course, at work, which is a different environment, but you get nervous sometimes because you don’t want people to know what you got.

“You’re like trying to hide it. Parkinson’s is a very difficult thing to cover up. It looks like you’re freezing cold. I don’t want people to think that, and that’s one of reasons why I asked you to do this. And that day, when I started talking, I realized the microphone was really light, and what I mean by that is things that are very light, like silverware, if there’s no weight to it, I’ll shake more. It’s very interesting the way all that works.

“So I had Tony and the people there actually get me a stand and put the stand up and the microphone in there. I didn’t have to use my hands. I almost felt like Stevie Wonder playing on the piano. I just kind of blurted out, ‘Damn, Parkinson’s,’ and a couple of people caught it, and kind of got on social media and ran a little bit but nothing really big.”

“I compare having Parkinson’s like having a roommate that never leaves because every morning, you wake up, you have this other person with you. It’s either not going to let you get out of bed really easy, going to make a shake and kind of takes over your body. So that could be a little crazy at times, but I’m kinda getting used to. I’ve really have tried to laugh things off.

“My 15-year-old, if I’m shaking, she’ll come over and put her hand on me and then she starts shaking and just have fun with it. There’s nothing you can do about it. I am not going to get rid of it. It’s always going to be there. Hopefully, with modern medicine and going forward, they can slow this down at one point, and if not, I’ll deal with it whenever.”

Malenko currently works for AEW. Signing with the promotion in 2019, Malenko is a senior producer for the popular wrestling brand.

Quotes via Wrestling Inc.

 

• Parkinson's
• WCW
• dean malenko
• AEW

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