Crap! One of my favorite authors is sick!
It's Robert Jordan. He has Primary Amyloidosis. A rare blood disease where his bone marrow is producing abnormal proteins. These proteins deposit on the wall of the heart leading to eventual heart failure within a year. The treatment at the Mayo clinic is to stimulate the body with growth horomone and harvest surplus marrow stem cells from the blood. Then, they kill the bone marrow entirely with an intense bout of short lived chemotherapy. They then re-implant the harvested stem cells, which regrow into new bone marrow. It has about a 25% full success rate, a 25% partial success rate, a 35% failure rate, and a 15% chance of fatality. His chances are better than most right now because his tests are significantly better than average. I'm guessing it was diagnosed early. He's in good spirits and finds this turn of events a bit ironic. He's been fighting false rumors of ill health for years.
He's almost done with the final novel in the huge series he is known best for, "The Wheel of Time". Hopefully, he returns to full health and is able to complete his greatest work. Though he say's he has many other books he wants to write, and I'll be more than happy to read them, I think perhaps he should slow down a bit and enjoy his remaining years after this. An author is an author though, writing is his passion.
