Terry Pratchett, Discworld author, has Alzheimer's

[Blue Velvet]

Know there's quite a few Discworld fans here on MR so I thought I'd post this news.

Terry Pratchett, the bestselling author of the Discworld fantasy books, is suffering from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's.

The author has published a statement on a website calling the diagnosis "an embuggerance". Pratchett, who is 59, says that he is taking the news "fairly philosophically" and "possibly with mild optimism".

He adds that the statement, posted yesterday on the website of his illustrator Paul Kidby, "should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'" and says that he expects to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments.

Earlier this year Pratchett underwent medical investigations after he started having problems with hand-eye coordination and dexterity. An MRI scan showed some areas of dead tissue and the suggestion was that he had suffered a "mini-stroke" some time in the past few years, and that he was now living with its legacy. In his statement, Pratchett says that the early onset Alzheimer's "lay behind this year's phantom 'stroke'".

Embuggerance. Good word; I like it.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2226306,00.html

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

 

[Leareth]

that sucks
he is one of my favorite authors.

I hope he keeps on writing for a long time.
with his writing style, Alzheimers might actually work for the better

 

[mahashel]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

 

[question fear]

Wow, thats so sad. I hope for his sake and that of his family that his health remains strong for as long as possible.

 

[Don't panic]

he still has several productive years ahead of him, and by the time he gets there, some new therapy might be available. hopefully.

 

[techlover828]

wow, this is thread 400,000!

 

[njmac]

That must be devastating news for him and his family.

Maybe he can still build up some mental reserve. (NYT link, I don't know if you need to register)

But when these sharp old folks die, autopsy studies often reveal extensive brain abnormalities like those in patients with Alzheimer’s. Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and Yaakov Stern at Columbia University Medical Center recall that in 1988, a study of “cognitively normal elderly women” showed that they had “advanced Alzheimer’s disease pathology in their brains at death.” Later studies indicated that up to two-thirds of people with autopsy findings of Alzheimer’s disease were cognitively intact when they died.

“Something must account for the disjunction between the degree of brain damage and its outcome,” the Columbia scientists deduced. And that something, they and others suggest, is “cognitive reserve.”

Cognitive reserve, in this theory, refers to the brain’s ability to develop and maintain extra neurons and connections between them via axons and dendrites. Later in life, these connections may help compensate for the rise in dementia-related brain pathology that accompanies normal aging.

 

[lofight]

That's why he repeats lot's of sentences in his book...
no, serious, alzheimer isn't nice..

 

[pinktank]

embuggerence, that's him alright

 

[dsnort]

That's sad.

I've only ever read one of his books, "Monstrous Regiment", it's was an entertaining read.

Hope all the best for him.