ALAN'S BRUSH WITH DEATH - Why I live to the full

HOW THE WISE GUY LEARNT THE VALUE OF IMPERFECTION

Alan Alda is no stranger to medical battles − and we’re not just talking about the ones he fought in his iconic role as Dr Hawkeye Pierce on the smash sitcom M*A*S*H.

“Fifteen years ago in Chile, I nearly died,” Alan tells. He was suffering from an intestinal blockage while filming Scientific American Frontiers.

“One of the great gifts I got from that was to realise I might not wake up from the operation − and I wasn’t scared of that.” Still, he adds with a laugh, “Waking up alive is a really nice thing.”

It’s this kind of hard-won wisdom and indefatigable sense of humour that serves Alan (84) so well in his current bout with Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s a common reaction to get depressed, and it’s really not necessary,” he explains. “It can get really bad, but your life isn’t over. You don’t die from it − you die with it.”

And he’s decided he’s going to bring new meaning to living with Parkinson’s.

“I box two or three times a week, play tennis, juggle, march and do tai chi,” Alan reports. “I play singles tennis two hours at a time and seldom faint. It keeps me in good shape, in addition to holding back the progress of the Parkinson’s.”

And he has no plans to cut back on his activities any time soon. “As long as I’m having fun and doing things that make a difference, I see no reason to slow down,” he says. “In my head, I’m still a kid learning to do the best I can.

“That, to me, is what makes life fun so I’m going to do that as much as I can.”