Award-winning actor Alan Alda has recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The 82-year-old, who played Hawkeye Pierce in the television show M*A*S*H, says that he was actually diagnosed three years ago, despite not having any symptoms.

Alda says he has lived a full life since his diagnosis, and aside from a thumb twitch, he hasn’t shown any symptoms. He says he decided to share his diagnosis before someone wrote a story about it from a sad point of view, and that’s not where he’s at.

Alda says he got diagnosed because he suspected he might have Parkinson’s due to the fact that he started acting out his dreams. “I was having a dream that someone was attacking me and I threw a sack of potatoes at him, but what I was really doing was throwing a pillow at my wife,” said Alda.

Thrashing about during sleep or acting out dreams can be a tell-tale sign of the condition, and a few scans later, his suspicions were confirmed. There are one million Americans that live with the condition, and Alda is now one of them.

It can result in muscle stiffness, tremors, slowness of movement, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances, and impaired quality of life. It can lead to severe disability.

There are typically five stages of the disease with the first being mild symptoms including some twitches. Stage four is when the person begins to require assistance and cannot function alone.

For now though, Alda says he is staying active taking boxing classes three days a week and tennis once a week. Life has always been creative for Alda and he doesn’t plan on that changing any time soon.

In the video below, Alda shares his diagnosis and talks about his expectations. Be sure to share his remarkable story with your family and friends and wish him well.