Taking a “Leave of Presence” from the Sun-Times. Damned cancer.
StG
Fuck cancer.
Two “authors with cancer” threads in one day? It’s just too much.
I think his earlier cancer was in his jaw, which he blames on radiation treatments used on ear infections when he was a child. Any word on if this is the same form of cancer or something new?
I suspected something was up when he cracked a femur with no direct injury. One of my favorite celebs and I hope he gets through this one, too.
Was it his femur? I thought it was his hip.
He has said that, while he does not wish to die, had he known what an ordeal his jaw cancer was going to be he would not have fought it. I’m guessing he probably won’t do anything beyond drug treatment for the pain as he seems to be ready to go.
The article says he’s receiving radiation, so he’s still fighting.
StG
Yeah, he’s broken his hip twice, the first was in a fall a few years back, then the bone broke again last winter, with no real apparent cause. The fracture was in the part of the hip that meets the femur, I think.
Radiation is pretty mild as cancer treatments go though; It’s when you start talking Chemo that the process gets well and truly sh***y.
Still, I wish him the best, but I’m not…optimistic.
Wow, he really can’t get a break. On the second hip break, what was he “not doing” to cause it? Sitting, standing, walking, lying down?
The December hip fracture was while he was dancing. Presumably not break dancing. From his wife Chaz:
StG
He is an amazing writer and watching At The Movies as a kid encouraged my love of film as much as anything else did. I wish him all the best.
Yeah, radiation therapy is usually just palliative, especially if it is just the hip they’re zapping, i.e. a metastatic deposit causing pain (and a fracture) which radiation may lessen.
He is far, far and away my favourite critic. If Roger doesn’t like a flick, I know I probably won’t either.
He’s had several other reviewers posting reviews on his website for a couple of weeks now, so I am not surprised at this announcement. Definitely saddened by it though. I remember watching him and Siskel on Sneak Previews when I was a teenager. Was that really so long ago?
I suppose it is a case by case basis. Of course I had chemo and radiation concurently. I had huge open sores(burns) on my neck and large blisters in my throat from radiation for SSC of right tonsil. Made it impossible to swallow so was on a feeding tube. Didn’t keep things from coming up however(due to the chemo). Stomach acid on radiation burns, good times. Still don’t have wiskers on my neck three years later. Cured so no major complaints-you do what you gotta do.
Hope I didn’t come off sounding too bad in the previous post didn’t mean too. I guess it depends on if the radiation is the primary treatment or secondary to the chemo. I do wish him the best.
Aw damn. He’s the one reviewer I’ve always trusted. Even when I don’t agree with him, I value his opinion because I know where he’s coming from.
I’m sorry to hear about this. The good news is it doesn’t sound like he thinks he’s short on time: in his announcement he talks about a huge variety of different projects he plans to stay busy with. To hear him tell it, he’s cutting back on his reviews because his treatment makes it difficult to watch his usual number of movies and cuts into his time, not because he’s too ill to work. Maybe he’s being optimistic, but I hope he has plenty of good years left.
I find that I’ve been disagreeing with his reviews at an increased rate lately, but there is no one else - critic or otherwise - who I enjoy reading more.
mmm
… and the Sun-Times just announced that he’s died. I’m very confused as well as sad, assuming this is true. You would think the Sun-Times would be the first to know.