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View Full Version : Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's.


羽之助
12-13-2007, 11:52 AM
Any Discworld book fans here? The author, Terry Pratchett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett), just found out he has a rare form of Alzheimer's.

http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html

AN EMBUGGERANCE
Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

Sublime
12-13-2007, 12:25 PM
Does that mean no more Discworld goodness? Or maybe for this guy Alzheimer's means an even wickeder storytelling :P

For the record my grand-dad has Alzheimer's and they've enlisted him in some sort of free experimental cure program. Since it's free you can imagine it'll involve a lot more experiment than cure but meh - it's not like there's anything else available. :/

Everdarke
12-13-2007, 01:43 PM
Aww. I hope it doesn't effect his writing too much. Terry Pratchetts Discworld series is one of the best book series in the world and I hope that there will be more of it.

Karthak
12-13-2007, 05:19 PM
Shit! He is my favourite author.

stsparky
12-13-2007, 05:28 PM
It's rare and and he does script with his wife. And hopefully he has a lot more books in him.

Plekto
12-13-2007, 08:49 PM
There is a cure in the works(saw it on slashdot). It gets rid of the "gunk" that causes this, but it's only a few months old and the researchers have only tested it in a lab(administering it might be very difficult or require injecting it directly into the brain).

The good news is that all signs point to a cure for Alzheimer's in under ten years. the trick, of course, is to last that long. Oh - AND, the "cure" doesn't help with repairing any damage. Memories lost are still lost.(so it's only really good for cases like this before it gets to the final stages or your mind is to old to really form a lot of new memories/learn everything all over again.(kind of like a coma - if you're young, you have plenty of time to re-learn what's missing)

mawande
12-14-2007, 01:46 AM
And a rare form, at that. But he will live as best he can. I want him to be well!

羽之助
12-14-2007, 02:38 AM
I first saw the animated version of The Wyrd Sisters on TVO (TV Ontario, the provincial public broadcaster - kinda like a crappy BBC or a very weird PBS) on night when I was 16 and I was hooked. Luckily the library had a few books - I bought the rest and they are now sitting in a box at home. Just read the latest one too. Hope there's more to come ...