But this was a particularly big week for one of our favorite natives of Edmonton, Alberta, whose long-fought, personal battle in support of stem-cell research took a huge turn for the better as U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order lifting the ban on such research.

“Today is a new day,” Fox said in a statement posted on the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Web site after the order was signed. “I could not be more thrilled to see President Obama live up to his commitment to get politics out of science. We have seen, for the past eight years, how much damage the opposite approach has done to science and patients. Now that the President has taken this critical action, I am excited by the prospect of American scientists carrying human embryonic stem cell research forward toward better treatments and cures that will affect countless millions of lives.

“I commend the President for recognizing the inherent value of scientific freedom, and for helping to create an environment in which it can flourish.”

We, of course, fell in love with Fox after meeting him as Alex P. Keaton in NBC’s classic family comedy, “Family Ties.” Later roles in the “Back to the Future” movies and on ABC’s “Spin City” further solidified his place in our hearts. Although he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, he didn’t disclose his condition until 1998 and not long after, he put his acting career on the back burner.

He has since made rare but eagerly anticipated guest appearances on shows like “Boston Legal,” “Scrubs” and “Rescue Me.” But Fox’s cause — finding a cure for Parkinson’s in our lifetime — is always at the forefront.

On Thursday, Fox’s foundation also announced that it was getting involved with personal genetics company 23andMe, and The Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center in an effort to recruit 10,000 people with Parkinson’s disease to join a new online research community. The idea is that people with PD can help support the research for a cure “in real time, potentially helping to speed early-stage scientific discoveries toward practical therapeutic relevance in treating Parkinson’s disease.”

One more bit of good news came with the announcement this week that Fox will host a one-hour ABC special, “Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist,” exploring the nature of optimism. It will air on May 7.