An Embuggerance

[Tak]

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

Signed by Mr Pratchett even though it's on Kidby's site

I had read about the "stroke" a few months back - he has said he just had an off day when he couldn't type and had put it down the tiredness.

With the correct medication this is something which can be managed really well but its still a bit carpy :(

[Dymetrie]

:(

[Blackstar]

:'(

[Flibster]

Oh ****. :(

[Dymetrie]

Front page of today's Metro (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=79564&in_page_id=34)

And in the words of Mr Pratchett himself:

Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet.

So big smiles everyone :)

[Snuggle Ferret]

That is bad but he has a good philosophy about it which is good :)

~x~

[Matblack]

Typical of the guy to take it with good grace, despite his fame he always seems to come across as humble and very grounded.

MB

[Garp]

My father pointed out that one of his co-workers has had the same diagnosis. 4 years down the line he still shows no signs of degradation and the prognosis is good for him to last many a year with no real side effects.

[leowyatt]

Oh no :( I'm sure he'll battle on :)

[Pumpkinstew]

I wonder if a few characters might get a big send off in the next few books.
Vimes or Carrot seem an obvious choice for a grand and heroic exit.

[Beansprout]

Me and my friends grew up with Discworld :(

[Tak]

Just so people are aware there have been a couple of other news bits thru the link I posted - doesn't say much but its useful to know that updates will get posted at the same place

[Mark]

Typical...
Personally, I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.
:D :D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7291315.stm http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Blackstar]

I was watching a program about fantasy books last night Terry Pratchett was on it, it was a good program for being on at 12am

[Feek]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7291315.stm

Best-selling fantasy author Terry Pratchett is to donate $1m for research into Alzheimer's disease........

The first thing that sprang into my mind, and I'm sure he'd giggle at it as well...

...... if he can remember where he left the cheque book!

[Tak]

From the Discworld Monthly email I subscribe to:

An April Update From Terry (15th April 2008):

My office is now effectively at a standstill. In fact, my office
is probably moving slightly backwards. It has not helped that a
five story rack of filed mail collapsed under the weight recently,
thus shuffling several thousand documents into new and interesting
combinations. Right now it is a good day if we can answer just
those emails that turn up on that day. Most days are nothing like
good days. Can we please say this:

I very much appreciate all the letters, emails and cards that have
come in, many of them recounting personal experiences and quite a
few passing on "survival kits". There does seem to be some people
out there who have managed at least to slow AD, although I have to
say that it does appear by taking various supplements, not by
milligram, but by grams :-o)

Nation has now been line-edited, and in theory I was going to have
a month or so off, although a large part of that will now be spent
reassembling what passes as our post room. In reality there are
now more calls on my time than there have ever been, to the point
where we are simply having to ignore approaches. I think we must
have had more than a dozen approaches from documentary companies
alone, and I think we shall now just stop sending out the "You are
too late, guys" emails (You may see us around and about being
followed by Craig and Charlie, who are making a documentary about
me for the BBC which will be broadcast next year.) I never
intended that I would be some kind of AD spokesman, but the world
seems to be deciding otherwise.

On a brighter note, I am now firmly ensconced with a specialist,
testing last week showed that nothing much had moved since the end
of November, except that in situations where I must parallel
process I find that serial processing is about as much as I can
achieve :-o)

There are a number of things planned for the rest of the year, and
they include cracking on with Unseen Academicals and also, with
any luck, playing a rather larger role in the making of Going
Postal.

- Terry Pratchett

[Flibster]

They're going to do a version of Going Postal?

Cool. :D I really enjoyed that book.

[Mark]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00bf008.shtml

Get it while you can (link expires next Thursday). :)

[Tak]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7561724.stm

Tonight 8:30 BBC 1 - could be worth a watch

[Tiggy]

Only just noticed this thread. I'll see if I can get in touch with his daughter Rhianna over the next few days and see if I can find out how her Dad is doing.

Not spoken to her for ooh, about 4 years now. If I cant get in touch with her, I'll see if I can speak to one of her exes.

[Tak]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7861412.stm

Can't listen at work so no idea of what he says atm :p

[cleanbluesky]

Terry Pratchett is so ****ing sharp - he's a strange poster boy for dementia because he doesn't seem immediately impaired.

[Tak]

Dementia and early-onset Alzheimer's (the type Pratchett has) are two different diseases

[cleanbluesky]

Dementia and early-onset Alzheimer's (the type Pratchett has) are two different diseases

Uhhhhhhhh, yes well spotted. I almost had you there :evil:

[Tak]

Uhhhhhhhh, yes well spotted. I almost had you there :evil:

LOL :p Remember what my job is :p

[Tak]

Yup - Terry Pratchett - Living with Alzheimer's, 2100GMT, Wednesday 4 February, BBC Two - will try to remember its on :)

[Mark]

I suspect it'll be on iPlayer for a while but yes, I'll also try to remember.

[Matblack]

I'll try to remember to watch but my memory isn't what it once was ;)

MB

[Mark]

Why have I got six screens? Because I haven't got enough room for eight! ;D

Shame to see how far downhill he's gone already though.

PS - Looks like it's a two-parter. Second part same time next week.

[Tak]

*goes to hunt on i-player*

send me a link when you find it :o

[Flibster]

Sky+'ed part 1 as I was busy.
Will also do part 2 - could encode and upload somewhere if anyone wants?

[Mark]

iPlayer will get there first, but I can also compress and upload part one overnight if anyone wants it (I have most of the process automated these days). :)

[Mark]

iPlayer link (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hhgsb/b00hhgs7/Terry_Pratchett_Living_with_Alzheimers_Episode_1/) :)

[Pumpkinstew]

A very worthwhile watch. Quite hard to watch Terry struggling and occaisionally losing his cool but at the same time great to see him resolving to do a bit of lashing back while he still has the capacity (and finances).

I'm extremely sceptical about the Infra-red light emitting hat since IR radiation won't penetrate the skull very effectively, but I hope it proves to be an effective treatment all the same.

I know he was a close friend of Terry's but did anyone else take an instant dislike of that sculptor. As he was talking about assisted suicide I was just thinking 'yeah, if your clearly elevated cholestorol levels don't do for you first.'

Incidentally if you want to further help the Alzheimers cause my sister has recently completed a 'Grim challenge' in aid of Alzeimers charities. Our Grandmother passed away last year and suffered from the condition for the last 15 years of her life.
Our other Grandmother has recently been diagnosed with the same illness. :(
Justgiving page is here http://www.justgiving.com/meljowilson

Alternatively Folding at home is a distributed computing program which aims to better understand the way proteins fold. A proteins structure when folded has a big effect on it's function in biological processes and misfolded proteins are thought to be a cause of several diseases - including some forms of Alzheimers.
The program uses your spare computing power to fold proteins and therefore contribute to the understanding of the problem, and progress towards a cure.
More info here http://folding.stanford.edu/
Or at OCUK's F@H team forum here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=39

I hope you'll forgive me for such blatant pimping in a slightly off topic way. :o