In 2016, Amit Akali’s gift to terminally ill patients across the world was the campaign called ‘The Last Laugh', which approached taboo subjects like death with humour and dignity, allowing the conversation around palliative care to be normalised. He convinced his aunt, the late Pooran Issarsingh Akali, an 85-year-old patient, to walk up to the stage and demonstrate a rare kind of courage, to make a joke on her own illness and possible death in a tasteful stand-up comedy act, which then went on to win accolades at global advertising festivals.
Nine years later, he demonstrates a similar kind of courage while talking about a condition, which he was recently diagnosed with — Parkinson’s. Ask him to describe what he is going through, and he responds with a sparkle in his eyes, “Parkinson’s is a result of the brain not producing dopamine. Other people can generate dopamine when they indulge in activities like exercising, eating an amazing meal or while having sex. I, on the other hand, simply have to pop a pill.”
“It started with basic stiffness and pain in the right arm. Some tests pointed at osteoporosis, but with shivering thrown into the mix, we did suspect Parkinson’s, which a neurologist then confirmed,” says Akali, who is the Co-founder of Wondrlab - a platform-first MarTech company.
“It is a degenerative disease often passed down in the family - my aunt from my maternal side had it - with no cure.”
The only way to keep it in check is with therapy and medicines. Besides exercising, Akali is currently undergoing physiotherapy, neurotherapy, speech therapy and also mental health therapy.
“I was trying to juggle these with work, but in Feb-March I got hospitalised for another infection, which in turn aggravated my Parkinson’s. Any illness can make Parkinson’s worse, I was told, and that is when I decided that my health must come first, and I told Saurabh and Rakesh about the treatment.”
He goes on to add, “We collectively decided that I should move into a mentorship role at the network and get the right person in to take up my responsibilities as CCO. So the next 3-4 months were spent in that. Hemant Shringy was my first choice for the role. Several years ago, he and Pallavi Chakravarti were part of my team at Grey. They were relatively junior back then, and I remember telling both of them that they have it in them to become CCOs. Both of them had an offer from a competitor agency, Pallavi chose to join Aggie, and Hemant joined Josy. I didn’t stop them because I could see their potential. Many years later, I am glad Hemant is joining us.”
For many of us, the film ‘Love and Other Drugs’ was the first window into the life of someone diagnosed with Parkinson's. The film explored the early onset of Parkinson's through the lens of Anne Hathaway's character, a medical anomaly. Fifteen years later, our first response to the condition is still despair and an attempt to brush it under the carpet. Amit Akali, who has been diagnosed with ‘Young Parkinson’s, wants to change that.
“When I first got to know this is Parkinson’s, obviously, there was a lot of fear as well as ignorance, there was also a lot of taboo to it. I was in denial because I felt 49 was too young to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s. After all, we usually hear of 70-year-olds who have it. It affects the motor skills, so writing, walking, rolling in bed, shaving, everything becomes a task. But it is not fatal, you can still lead your life with some checks and the help of some medicines. The more I read about it, the more I saw my fear reduce. Also, I am grateful for the Wondrlab culture. If I were at any other agency and this had happened to me, I can’t imagine them going out of their way to help me out, for them it would just be some illness, and they would move on. But, Wondrlab is a blessing.”
Exactly 10 years ago, Amit Akali decided to make his newly launched agency - What’s Your Problem - his pet project, and today fate seems to have landed him another one, which he appears to be equally invested in. He adds decisively, “I want to publicly embrace my Parkinson’s, share what I know, end the taboo, ignorance and fear associated with it.” For starters, he has already started penning down some lines, taking a leaf from ‘The Last Laugh’. He writes: “I should have seen Parkinson’s coming. After all, I have always been a mover and a shaker.” With many wittier one-liners on Parkinson’s promptly jotted down on his laptop, he nurses the desire to turn it into a campaign sometime soon.
And just when you think he is spending all his time going over prescriptions now, he surprises you by saying that he spent the last 10 days planning his vacation to Maasai Mara in Africa, and his month-and-a-half-long holiday to Australia and New Zealand next year to spend quality time with his friends and family. Like he aptly puts it, “Parkinson’s doesn’t kill you”, and in Amit Akali’s case, it has become an excuse to truly ‘live life’.
