Author, journalist and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens has announced he has cancer. Illustration: Tom Jellett Source: The Australian
Posted on 06/30/2010 7:29:51 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
AUTHOR, journalist and public intellectual Christopher Hitchens has announced he has cancer of the oesophagus and will undergo treatment.
Hitchens revealed his condition in a three-sentence statement on the website of Vanity Fair, a magazine to which he regularly contributes, and said he would have to cut short his current book tour.
“I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my oesophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice,” Hitchens said.
The English-born Hitchens, 61, was in the middle of a book tour to promote his newly released memoir Hitch 22.
He visited Australia in May this year, being a star attraction at the Sydney Writers Festival.
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Hitchens, a noted enfant terrible in the literary world, is a well-known public figure who appears regularly on TV and has had his work published in myriad magazines including The New Statesman, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate & The Nation. He also published several books including his recent atheist tome “God is Not Great.”
He is well-known for his prolific consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. It was reported that the chain-smoking Hitchens gave up smoking cigarettes in 2008, though a profile piece in the Washington Post earlier this month showed that he was still indulging in the habit.
In 2003 he famously quipped that his daily intake of alcohol was enough “to kill or stun the average mule”.
Hitchens, once a darling of the left, famously underwent an ideological shift in recent years, especially after 9/11, that saw him support the Iraq war and lose the support of many of his former admirers.
Hitchens became an American citizen in 2007. He currently lives in Washington DC with his wife Carol.
Ouch...this is a bad one. If caught early, however, a good outcome can be achieved. It is associated with smoking and drinking.
I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone, and my heart sank when I read the title. May God bless him, and I don’t mean that in a flippant way.
....lucky his oesophagus didn’t rupture on him and shoot a gout of blood half way up the wall...that’s what happens to a lot of alkys...I actually saw it happen in detox once...it’s quite a thing to see.
My brother died of that. It wasn’t caught early enough; he ignored a lot of the warning signs. Prayers up.
apparently from drinking too much. Chris Buckley said he showed up on TV reeking of alcohol, possibly drunk.
I think it very telling that a conservative can hear of the illness or injury of an adversary and their first response is to offer a prayer for that person. Just one of many differences between liberals and conservatives, but one that says a whole lot about the nature of conservatives.
I am not a fan of this man, but I certainly do pray that he will do well and that he will find the love of God. And I pray for his wife and family.
Agreed; he may come around to seeing God given his mortality is showing big time. Pray for him.
God is not mocked.
It rains on the just and the unjust.
Very sorry to hear this. Hitchens is a valid voice, however right or wrong — and he’s often both. Hope he pulls through.
I pray for him to recognize his present condition, and what his future will be either with or without Jesus Christ.
Hitchens might be an atheist and opponent of most conservatives on social and faith issues, but he is a stalwart supporter of the war on terror and war on militant Islam, and was one of the strongest voices supporting Bush’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reminds me of a cartoon several years ago:
God is dead. - Nietzsche
Nietzsche is dead. - God
My good friend Bobby smoked and drank like Hitch, with the same result. It was painful, ugly and fatal.
I can’t stand Christopher Hitchens, but I wouldn’t wish esophageal cancer on anyone! I’ll be praying for his healing, both physical and spiritual.
Not a fate I’d wish on anyone. He and his family have my most sincere and heartfelt prayers. Though he may not acknowledge it, he too is God’s child.
Pray for his conversion.
LOL! To Chris Buckley, "reeking of alcohol" means "possibly drunk."
Best wishes to old Hitchens, but this absurdity about says it all for boy Buckley.
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