When I was 8 I was lucky enough to meet Ali at Riley Childrens Hospital where I went for checkups on my heart as a kid. By then he already had Parkinson's disease and I remember asking my mom why he was shaking so bad because at the time I didn't understand. Even though he was struggling even then he signed I'm sure hundreds of autographs and lifted every child up that he was able to take a picture with him. He was smiling and laughing the whole time. At the time I only knew him as a boxer, not as the civil rights leader and cultural icon he had become. But even in that short time at that age I could tell he was someone who cared more about the well being of others than himself.
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