Latest / Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry / Ozzy Osbourne’s Parkinson’s Revelation: The Truth Behind His 16-Year Secret

Transcript

Ozzy Osbourne’s Parkinson’s Revelation: The Truth Behind His 16-Year Secret · Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry

• 0:01
  They told him he had five good years left.
• 0:04
  That was 15 years ago. He's still standing, still
• 0:08
  speaking, still living. This is living with Parkinson's,
• 0:12
  The good, the bad, and the reality.
• 0:15
  A podcast about what happens when life throws you something
• 0:18
  incurable and you fight back anyway.
• 0:21
  Hosted by Bryce Perry, diagnosed at 4015.
• 0:25
  Years into the battle, This is the truth behind the tremor.
• 0:29
  Let's begin. When the Prince of Darkness said
• 0:34
  I'm not dying from Parkinson's, I've been working with it most
• 0:37
  of my life, he revealed something that completely
• 0:39
  changed how I think about this condition.
• 0:42
  See, Ozzy Osbourne, he didn't just survive Parkinson's, he
• 0:45
  taught us how to fight with it, how to live with it, and he even
• 0:49
  taught us how to laugh in the middle of it.
• 0:51
  Sticking with me to the very end of this one because I would be
• 0:54
  sharing something really special, a personal tribute to
• 0:56
  Ozzy from someone who actually gets it.
• 0:59
  And as someone living with Parkinson's, when I first heard
• 1:02
  Ozzy's story back in 2020, I felt seen.
• 1:06
  But what most people don't know is this Ozzy has been managing
• 1:09
  symptoms since 2316, years before his official diagnosis.
• 1:16
  And that matters because so many of us live in this invisible
• 1:19
  space where something's wrong, but no one can name it yet.
• 1:25
  How many of you are like that? The Aussie 16 year delay.
• 1:29
  It's more common than you think. I mean, I went through something
• 1:32
  similar before I had a name for what it was I was dealing with.
• 1:35
  I had weird stiffness. I had this weird, you know,
• 1:38
  shake in my finger, which I called it a shake.
• 1:40
  I didn't know what else to call it.
• 1:41
  Starting to have trouble buttoning my shirts.
• 1:43
  And you know, I just had a hand that just didn't feel like mine
• 1:47
  anymore. And people around me said I look
• 1:50
  tired. I was look stressed out or look
• 1:53
  like it was getting older quicker.
• 1:55
  Nice. But you know what?
• 1:57
  Parkinson's doesn't show up politely, does it?
• 1:59
  It sneaks in. It takes your normal and
• 2:01
  scrambles it slowly and silently.
• 2:04
  And doctors often miss it, especially in younger folks like
• 2:08
  or people with less obvious symptoms.
• 2:11
  You know, here's the thing with Parkinson's.
• 2:13
  Hindsight isn't 2020, it's 20 years later.
• 2:17
  There's a pricism for you. But what Ozzy had was peak peak
• 2:23
  RKN 2 genetic variant, right? A rare mutation that causes
• 2:27
  early onset Parkinson's. Now this isn't your typical
• 2:30
  Parkinson's where dopamine levels gradually drop.
• 2:34
  This gene affects the way Mitrotrinia work.
• 2:38
  Mitochondria. Mitochondria work in neurons.
• 2:42
  Like think of it like your cells are running out of battery much
• 2:46
  sooner than expected. And when I learned about this
• 2:49
  genetic, genetic forms like the PPRKN 2, it clicked for me.
• 2:55
  It explained why some people's progression, you know,
• 2:57
  progressed differently, right? Why meds work differently.
• 3:00
  It made me realize that this disease isn't A1 size fits all.
• 3:04
  You know, it's not just as if you have Parkinson's, it's what
• 3:06
  kind you have now. You know, Ozzy once said, you
• 3:10
  have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day.
• 3:16
  If you live with Parkinson's, you know exactly what that
• 3:19
  means. I had a weekend once where I
• 3:21
  hosted a talk, I helped my kid move and I even cleaned the
• 3:24
  garage and I felt amazing. And then boom, Monday hit and I
• 3:28
  can't get out of bed without even holding onto the wall.
• 3:30
  I can't barely even get moving now.
• 3:32
  That unpredictability is real, but so is the hope and what
• 3:37
  helps? Well, I paste my days, I don't
• 3:40
  overload back-to-back events and I stay honest with my body now.
• 3:45
  Parkinson's is like a weather app with no forecast.
• 3:47
  You learn to carry an umbrella anyway.
• 3:50
  That's pretty good. Parkinson's like a weather app
• 3:52
  with no forecast. And he learned to carry an
• 3:54
  umbrella anyway. So with Parkinson's, always pack
• 3:57
  your umbrella. Now, what was his secret?
• 4:01
  Well, let's talk about Sharon, Ozzie's wife, his manager, his
• 4:05
  caregiver and his companion, his champion.
• 4:07
  You know she should. She stood by him through
• 4:09
  everything and not just the music and the mayhem, but the
• 4:12
  appointments, the surgeries, the off days, the flare ups.
• 4:15
  And when Ozzy said she's my rock, he really wasn't
• 4:18
  exaggerating. You know, every person with
• 4:20
  Parkinson's needs a Sharon or needs to know they deserve one.
• 4:25
  And you know what? If you're a Sharon, well, thank
• 4:27
  you. Seriously.
• 4:28
  I mean that you're the reason why we keep going.
• 4:32
  You know, behind every I'm fine is someone holding it together
• 4:35
  for both of us. You know, if this is your first
• 4:41
  time here, this show, this pod, this podcast, this channel is
• 4:45
  all about Parkinson's, right? Living better, like a real
• 4:48
  voice, real and raw. And today's kind of a tribute
• 4:51
  thing. And, and, and if you're, if
• 4:52
  you're new here and it's the first time you're joining me and
• 4:54
  first time you see me, you know, if you want to come along for
• 4:57
  the ride to subscribe, we're, we're changing things, we're
• 4:59
  mixing it up. Look in the, look in the, the
• 5:01
  comments section. This is a community.
• 5:03
  This is where people care. They want answers, get answers
• 5:06
  and the whole community jumps in for it.
• 5:07
  So welcome, welcome. All right, here's one thing.
• 5:13
  Ozzy didn't just talk about Parkinson's.
• 5:16
  He showed up for all of us and right till the very end, you
• 5:21
  know, on July the 5th, 2025, just 17 days before he passed
• 5:24
  away, Ozzy performed what would become his final concert and it
• 5:27
  took place at the Villa Park in Birmingham, England in front of
• 5:31
  the sold out crowd. And here's the part that hit me
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  the hardest. He did the whole performance
• 5:36
  seated on a custom bat theme throne because his body couldn't
• 5:40
  handle standing. A bat theme throne.
• 5:42
  Man, I'd love a bat theme throne.
• 5:43
  Wouldn't that be kind of cool? Maybe not a bat, maybe something
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  different, maybe I'm not sure what.
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  But anyway, he couldn't handle standing, so he sat the whole
• 5:51
  time. But his spirit unstoppable.
• 5:55
  He sang, he smiled, he brought people to tears.
• 5:59
  It was raw, defiant and unforgettable.
• 6:03
  And that night wasn't just about music.
• 6:05
  It was a benefit concert called Back to the Beginning and I
• 6:08
  think they raised over €140 or pound, I'm not quite sure. 140
• 6:13
  million for Parkinson's research, children's hospitals
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  and Hospice care. So even as Parkinson's took more
• 6:20
  from him physically, he gave more back than ever.
• 6:24
  And isn't that something to strive for?
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  Don't let it take anything away from you.
• 6:28
  Could do better than it you can do.
• 6:30
  You can do better to Parkinson's than what it can do to you.
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  See, Ozzy showed us that Parkinson's doesn't get the
• 6:36
  final word. We do.
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  So what part of the story hits home with you?
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  Was it the delay? The gene?
• 6:42
  The concert, the caregiver love story?
• 6:45
  Drop your thoughts in the comments.
• 6:46
  Remember, I read and reply to every comment.
• 6:48
  And if you're supporting someone with Parkinson's, tell us what
• 6:51
  you've been learning along the way.
• 6:52
  Let's keep this community real and raw, OK?
• 6:54
  And now, as I promised in the beginning, here is my tribute to
• 6:57
  Ozzy because he earned it. It's the Prince of Darkness who
• 7:02
  walked through the fire, stumbled through the fog and
• 7:05
  still lit the stage on fire for the rest of us.
• 7:08
  Thank you. He showed us that vulnerability
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  is strength. And the Parkinson's doesn't end
• 7:13
  the music. It just changes the rhythm.
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  Rock on, Ozzy and rest easy. You know, with Parkinson's, the
• 7:20
  loudest voice isn't always the strongest.
• 7:23
  It's the one that keeps singing. That's my Bryceism for you,
• 7:27
  Ozzy. Thanks for joining me.
• 7:32
  Parkinson's may be part of your life, but it doesn't get to
• 7:35
  define it. Thanks for listening to Living
• 7:37
  with Parkinson's, the good, the bad, and the reality.
• 7:42
  If this episode moved you, helped you, or reminded you
• 7:45
  you're not alone. Share it with someone who needs
• 7:47
  to hear it. Want to go deeper?
• 7:50
  The Inner Circle is waiting. Monthly Zoom calls, 24/7
• 7:54
  community, and a Direct Line to Bryce.
• 7:56
  You'll find the link in the show notes.
• 7:58
  Until next time, keep showing up and keep doing life today.