Terry Crews and his wife Rebecca King-Crews made an appearance on NBC's TODAY on Monday, April 6 to share some important personal news.
Terry, 57, and Rebecca, 60, have been together for nearly four decades, meeting when the former was a college student. They tied the knot in 1989 and now share five children together.
© NBCOn the show, the couple revealed that for the past decade, Rebecca had been dealing with Parkinson's disease, a diagnosis she'd received back in 2015 and is now opening up about publicly for the very first time.
She is now speaking about it after receiving a new FDA-approved surgery that has helped her improve mobility on one side of her body, explaining to host Craig Melvin that she can now write briefly with her right hand for the first time in three years.
"I feel good," she confirmed. "I'm seeing improvement in my symptoms. I'm still in recovery, it takes about three months of recovery. So as you recover, you see more improvement." Craig confirmed she'll have a second treatment in September to deal with symptoms on the other side of her body.
"I'm still figuring it out, to be honest," Rebecca shared with Craig, noting that an improvement on one side versus the other has made her feel "more aware" of each side of her body, which has proved slightly disorienting.
"However, each day that I do things, I'm aware of the benefit that's already [been given] to me on the left side of my body," she said, explaining that she wanted to open up about it now to create awareness among others dealing with the same disease, and to provide more exposure to methods of treatment like her own. "I'm excited about the possibility."
© Getty ImagesThe mom-of-five also expressed her hope in being more open about her diagnosis and the surgery so as to make it more "available" for others dealing with Parkinson's, given how expensive it is and that "it's not covered yet," stating positively: "I believe we're going to find a cure."
Terry, for his part, got choked up expressing his support for his longtime partner, noting that seeing her experience symptoms like "tremors, not sleeping, loss of balance" has been "very, very hard."
© Getty ImagesHe got particularly emotional reflecting on seeing her write her name for the first time in three years, dubbing her the "rock of our lives" and a "superhero," especially noting her resolve in not wanting to go public with her diagnosis to evoke sympathy, but more so to drive attention to research and a cure.
Looking back on the first days of symptoms, Rebecca noted that she first experienced numbness in her foot back in 2012, and a trainer pointed out that one of her arms did not swing while she was walking. Later, when she spotted tremors in one of her hands, she went to a doctor who simply waved it off as "anxiety," but once she got a referral, three years later, she got a diagnosis.
© Getty Images"This is the battle that we were designed to fight together," Terry gushed.
