[LMB] OT: Sad Terry Pratchett news

[Marty L. Adkins]

This shocking news was in today's Guardian:

Pratchett announces he has Alzheimer's

Michelle Pauli
Wednesday December 12, 2007

Guardian Unlimited
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'".

Pratchett is one of the country's most popular 
authors. He has sold more than 55m books and is 
best known for his Discworld series of humorous 
and satirical fantasy novels. The 36th of these, 
Making Money, was published earlier this year. He 
has also written children's books, including The 
Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents which 
won the prestigious Carnegie medal for children's 
fiction. He was awarded an OBE in 1998 for services to British literature.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Here's the link to Pratchett's own statement:

www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html


Jerrie, not feeling very cute just now