Terry Pratchett Speaks Out About Alzheimer’s Disease.
March 24, 2008 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Across the Pond, Event, Health, Media, Medicine, Mental Health, Misc., Money
Terry Pratchett, bestselling author of the Discworld novels, was diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease last year.
When he announced his condition in December, he called it ‘an embuggerance’.
Now he has a whole lot more to say. At the recent Annual Network Conference of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust in England, Terry talked about how it felt to discover he had Alzheimer’s disease and the extreme measure he would go to in order to get cured…
“Part of me lives in a world of new age remedies and science, and some of the science is a little like vodoo, but science was never an exact science, and personally I’d eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.”
He also discussed at length the lack of funding for Alzheimer’s research…
“I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the Cure comes along. Say it will be soon – there’s nearly as many of us as there are cancer sufferers, and it looks as if the number of people with dementia will double within a generation. In most cases, alongside the sufferer you will find a spouse suffering as much. It is a shock to find out that funding for Alzheimer’s research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures.”
Terry then pledged $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust.
(source)
Mr. Prachett is one of my favorite authors, and I was saddened by the news that his mind is under attack by this devastating illness. My prayers are with him.
I admit that I haven’t read any of his books but his attitude and desire to fight this disease and become a spokesman for so many others says to me that he is a good person. It’s so very sad to hear of anyone inflicted with this disease.