MICHAEL J. FOX: FAMILY’S THE BEST MEDICINE

“Love is keeping me alive — my family is the medicine that really works for me!”

Those are the moving words of courageous Michael J. Fox, who is combating the devastating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease with the best medicine possible — the love of his family.

“Michael doesn’t know where he’d be without his wife, Tracy, and their four children — Sam, Aquinnah, Schuyler and Esme,” a source close to the beloved star told The ENQUIRER.

“He firmly believes their love has kept the disease from progressing faster and that just touching them can sometimes make the shaking stop.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without Tracy and the kids,” Michael told the source.

“Sometimes they’re the only thing that keeps me going!”

Michael includes his family in virtually every aspect of his life now — they were by his side at the L.A. premiere of “Stuart Little 2,” and a day earlier, Tracy accompanied him to a benefit dinner for his foundation for Parkinson’s research.

He even agreed to have his flowing brown hair chopped short just so it would match 13-year-old Sam’s!

“My son gets a haircut every summer so I kind of did it to show support, but it looks better on him than it does on me,” a sheepish Michael said after he was shorn.

Michael wants to make every day with his kids count because he doesn’t know how long he really has. “He’s never hidden the fact that he has a disease from them and they just accept all tremors and twitches as part of him,” added another close friend of the family.

“They don’t really know exactly what’s wrong with me, but as long as I’m here and I’m Dad, it doesn’t matter to them that much!” Fox told the friend.

“He works hard at being a combination cheering section and referee for their games and a tutor and pal in the evenings.

“‘I do not have time to think about what the disease is doing to me most of the time,’ he told the friend.

” ‘I’ve got a life to live!’ “