This is a completely unrelated-to-music post, and an extreme downer for the Christmas theme today; but I needed to post this.
One of my favourite authors of all time (along with Neil Gaiman, and Robert Rankin), the illustrious and incomparable Terry Pratchett, has officially announced that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s.
In a post entitled “Embuggerance” on Paul Kidby’s site, Pratchett writes:
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 […] 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.
Along with Gaiman, Terry Pratchett has probably been the author (bugger it, never mind author… individual) most responsible for changing my life in ways that only a true writer can. He exposes human nature for what it really is, yet always – always – offers hope and redemption, in his own inimitable fashion; with a wit and humour that defies equals.
I know that he (to quote the words of Granny Weatherwax), “aten’t dead”… but I still feel an extreme sadness here. Best wishes, Terry. We’ll all be holding thumbs.
