It took me quite a while, and much pushing from my friends who know about such things, to become a fan of Terry Pratchett’s (except, of course, for Good Omens, because really, who doesn’t love that?), but this was the year that I finally came around. So it saddens me to learn that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s. The CBC reports:
“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,” Pratchett wrote in a message titled “An Embuggerance.”
“We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism,” he wrote.
There are of course things that can be done to slow the progress of the disease, and I wish Pratchett and his family the best of luck.
