Photo / NZ Film Commission
Film director Toa Fraser has revealed he has Young Onset Parkinson's disease.
The 46-year-old, who has Fijian whakapapa, shared the news on social media, saying he was diagnosed with the incurable brain disease five years ago.
People used to say I look cool. These days, people ask me why I look so serious. Mine is one of the many of faces of Young Onset Parkinson’s, an (as yet) incurable brain disease. I was diagnosed five years ago. I've kept it quiet until today. #ParkinsonsAwarenessMonth pic.twitter.com/TM8MdBK5sO
— Toa Fraser (@toafraser) April 16, 2021
"The diagnosis came after years of living with the symptoms, misdiagnoses, and random questions all the time (“What’s wrong with your voice?” “Why are you shaking?” “Why do you look so nervous?...)," he said.
Typically, 'young onset' of the disease occurs in people younger than 50 years of age.
"It hasn’t been easy. It’s hard on relationships, it’s hard on my kids. Those closest to me have been unfaltering, discrete and kind. I’ve also learned not everybody can come on this journey with me."
Fraser said he had kept the diagnosis quiet and "buried it as much as I could" but was keen to highlight his experience during Parkinson's awareness month this April.
"But now I’m sick of hiding. I guess #ParkinsonsAwarenessMonth is as good as time as any to start talking more widely about it. It sucks but it doesn’t define me."
The director is best known for his films The Dead Lands and No. 2.