As Rev. Jesse Jackson recovers from COVID-19, it’s been reported that his Parkinson’s disease is worsening. According to ABC7, the activist has been transferred from Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, where he’ll undergo intensive occupational physical therapy for the condition.
As for Jackson’s wife Jacqueline Brown, she remains in Northwestern’s ICU department. The couple’s son Jonathan Jackson told news outlets that she is breathing on her own but admits that she is receiving some oxygen from an oxygen machine.
The updates on Jackson and his wife come days after Jonathan announced that the two — who had been hospitalized following their COVID-19 diagnoses — were “responding positively” to the treatments they were being given.
Amid the first update, he thanked all those who wished a speedy recovery to him and his parents. Now, his family is doing the same.
“We continue to receive the love that is being poured out to our family from around the world, and it is greatly appreciated as we express our love and concern for the millions of people who have been victimized by the COVID-19 virus and its variants,” the Jackson family wrote in a statement. “We know this is a dangerous disease so please remain prayerful for all of those who are suffering as a result.” They also urged others to get vaccinated.
Jackson first revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017, three years after he began noticing a change in his mobility.
“My family and I began to notice changes about three years ago,” he wrote in a statement. “After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father.” At the time, he noted that he “must make lifestyle changes and dedicate myself to physical therapy in hopes of slowing the disease’s progression.”