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Pratchett confirms Alzheimer's

13/12/2007

Author Terry Pratchett has confirmed he is suffering from a rare form of early Alzheimer's disease.

The Discworld creator said in a statement on the website of his illustrator Paul Kirby that he has been diagnosed with the degenerative disease but stressed that work was continuing on his latest books Nation and Unseen Academicals.

He said: "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'."

He added: "We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism."

The 59-year-old has sold more than 55 million books worldwide and was awarded the OBE in 1998 for services to British literature.

He explained that he planned to meet as many future commitments as possible, adding that he would "prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet".

He told fans the statement should be interpreted as "I am not dead".

"I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else," he added.

"For me, this may be further off than you think. It's too soon to tell.

"I know it's a very human thing to say 'is there anything I can do?', but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry."