rileyuk.co.uk

Has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I think this was posted in the news section but this article actually has some very Pratchett esque quotes that are quite funny!

Mr Pratchett wrote:When writer Terry Pratchett was told he had Alzheimer's disease, his first thought was "that's a bit of a bugger". That, and "I hope they hurry up and find a cure quick."

and

Mr Pratchett wrote:"One of the questions was how many animals can you name.

"And I said 'let me think... There's the rock hyrax which is the closest living relative to the elephant, and then there's the thylocene which is the possibly extinct Tasmanian werewolf. How many more would you like me to name?'"

I suppose asking an observant creative writing type to name animals would bring you up some interesting answers. That is the sort of general knowledge that I would love to have - I would have to spend days trawling through the Wikipedia sites though to make it stick.

This is sad news but he is a great writer and wanted to give my vote of thanks for his funny and entertaining novels.

It is deeply saddening that a man of such obvious intellect and wit has been struck down by this illness. He seems to be treating it positively though, so hopefully will be able to lead as normal a life as possible through grit and determination.

Fortunately the intellect and wit's still intact: the area of the brain affected (it's affected for the verb, effect for the noun, btw) "just" deals with vision and motor skills. So he can't type properly and his peripheral vision occasionally goes, but he can still write brilliant novels. Day to day life must be a bit anoying, not being able to do things quite the same. He's quite lucky that he can still do what he loves though, and we are too. Roll on the next Pratchett novel...

I wonder if it is going to be about the disease?! It was sad to see what his wife said about him coping with the disease. Apparently picking up a shirt as though it was a brand new object that was fresh and interesting (even though he had no idea what to do with it!). The drug makes it much better though which is a relief. He is only about mid fifties too!