I will own my Parkinson’s: Amit Akali

The hospital visit was a turning point. Amit Akali, co-founder of martech firm Wondrlab, remembers looking at himself and thinking, "I cannot be doing this to myself. I have to focus on my health."

Akali had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disorder. He is 49 years old. The news, he admits, was terrifying. “When Parkinson’s was announced, it was super scary. There was fear, there was ignorance, there was taboo. There is still fear. The ignorance is somewhat less, but there is still ignorance.”

It began with pain and stiffness that he first thought was osteoporosis. He took medicines but something still felt wrong. There was a slowness and at times a faint tremor. He went to a neurologist, did the scans and the MRIs, and the verdict was Parkinson’s. A specialist confirmed it immediately.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. It happens when neurons in the brain, responsible for producing dopamine, start dying. As dopamine levels drop, movement and coordination become impaired. The average age for this disorder’s diagnosis is early to mid-60s. A small percentage develop early-onset Parkinson’s (before 50).

Even as he was coming to terms with the diagnosis, a hospitalisation for an unrelated infection brought the reality of the disorder into sharper focus. Any health misadventure like the infection which causes weakness, he explains, can feed the condition’s loop. “It makes you lose your balance. Then you fall. The fall then affects the Parkinson’s. So, I said, ‘No. I must get out of this cycle.’”

With over 18 years in the advertising business, Akali is no stranger to challenges. He has held leadership positions at agencies such as Medulla Communications, Ogilvy, Grey, What’s Your Problem, and now Wondrlab, where he will transition from his chief creative role to a mentorship position. He will be succeeded by Hemant Shringy of FCB Ulka, who earlier worked with him at Grey.

Just as he has faced professional transitions, he resolved not to let the illness dictate the terms of his life. “The best thing you can do in this is not change. If you are embarrassed, if you let fear rule you, if you stop living life, if you stop going on trips or doing things that you like, then it affects you even more.”

Parkinson’s has no cure, and treatment is limited to medication and therapy. While Akali continues with physiotherapy, speech therapy, and mental health therapy, perspective often arrives from unexpected places like a seminar on World Parkinson’s Day. His daughter teased him on the occasion: “Are you celebrating it? Are we supposed to wish Happy Parkinson’s Day?” It was a reminder that even difficult days can carry lightness.

There, a doctor reframed the condition in words that have stayed with him. When children worried about their father’s trembling, the doctor would ask, “Who is it really a problem for? The father or you?” His point was simple: if you are not embarrassed, nothing can really go wrong.

This instinct to face illness with humour runs deep in his family. When his mother was diagnosed with cancer, the family went out to dinner. When she was hospitalised for chemotherapy, they organised a Valentine’s Day meal for his parents in her hospital room. When his father was admitted, they cut a birthday cake at his bedside. “Life had to go on,” he says, “even inside hospitals.”

When cancer later returned to his mother’s lungs, she chose not to treat it. Instead, she chose to live fully with the time she had. That decision, Akali recalls, became the seed for the campaign he would later create, The Last Laugh.

Made for the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) by Medulla Communications, it featured terminally ill patients delivering stand-up comedy routines. Akali was the chief creative officer of the agency at that time. 

Ultimately, his greatest decision was to speak openly. “At that point I decided to own my Parkinson’s. I just thought talking about it would, A, liberate me, and B, it just felt like the correct thing to do. If knowledge, information, fun, or inspiration goes out there and helps anybody, that would be fantastic.”