Oliver Sacks fears of dying by cancer

London-born writer whose book Awakenings inspired the Oscar-nominated film vows to live ‘in the richest, deepest, most productive’ way he can after learning of multiple metastases in the liver

The scientist and writer Oliver Sacks has said his “luck has run out” after revealing that he has terminal cancer.

Sacks, whose book Awakenings inspired the Oscar-nominated film of the same name, disclosed his illness in an article in the New York Times.

The London-born academic, made a CBE in the 2008 birthday honours, said: “A month ago, I felt that I was in good health, even robust health. At 81, I still swim a mile a day. But my luck has run out – a few weeks ago I learned that I have multiple metastases in the liver.”

He said it came after a previous diagnosis nine years ago and he is now “face to face with dying”.

He wrote: “It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me. I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can.”

Sacks said he would no longer watch the evening news, or pay attention to arguments over politics or climate change.“I still care deeply about the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but these are no longer my business; they belong to the future,” he wrote.

He admitted he had some fear about dying, and discussed the sadness of seeing friends and loved ones die before him. “Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts. This does not mean I am finished with life,” he wrote. “On the contrary, I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more.”

Sacks is the author of several books about unusual medical conditions including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and The Island of the Colourblind.

Awakenings was based on his work with patients treated with a drug that woke them up after years in a catatonic state. The 1991 film version, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, was nominated for three Oscars including best picture.

 

Source: http://goo.gl/FQz2kE