Dan Abnett diagnosed with epilepsy

[tommox]

Dan Abnett has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Here is the post from the black library blog.

Friday, 22 January 2010
Prospero Burns update

Due to author Dan Abnett’s health issues, the Horus Heresy novel Prospero Burns will now be published in Jan 2011. This novel chronicles the epic story of the Space Wolves and their dire battle with the Thousand Sons. It provides a counterpoint to A Thousand Sons, which tells the story from the Traitor Legion’s perspective and is published in March 2010.


The Horus Heresy series continues to go from strength-to-strength throughout 2010, with three major new novels and three original audio dramas. For a full list of 2010 titles please visit the Black Library website at www.blacklibrary.com.

Statement from Dan Abnett:

“As some of you will know, I became ill in the latter part of last year. The problem was eventually identified as epilepsy, which I am now managing, but it took several rather troubling months to reach that diagnosis. As a consequence, Prospero Burns did not meet its deadline, and the decision’s been made to push back its release. I’d like to say two things: thank you for all the messages of support, and sorry there’s going to be a delay. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that Prospero Burns is worth the wait.”

[Melissia]

Ah, poor guy. One of hte better authors.

[Mike X]

Wow, that sucks for Dan. Thankfully epilepsy isn't that bad of an illness.

[Herald of Nurgle]

Dang.

Certainly did not see that coming. Just sucks that it's Abnett who's being delayed, rather than the far less awesome McNeill (is the loss of a Abnett-Heresy-SW book better than the loss of a McNeill-Heresy-kS book? Difficult)

Sure that it'll be twice as awesome to make up for it.

[Commissar Lewis]

Damn, it's always the good people who get afflicted with something.

Well, Dan, fight well brother.

[imperialsavant]

:( Thats so sad! Dan is one of my most favorite authors from Black Library & I think I have read virtually everything he has written for them (comics excluded!)
However the good new is that Epilepsy is now very manageable. I have a girlfriend who has suffered from it for many years & she shows no signs of hassels & lives a very normal & active life.
My best wishes to Dan & his family & I know we all look forward to his future books. :)

[Jive Tyrant]

Wow, that sucks for Dan. Thankfully epilepsy isn't that bad of an illness.

A friend of mine died from it, so it CAN be serious.

Here's hoping Dan has the mild version.

[tyrant of khador]

hopefully he does, but for being recently diagnosed with epilepsy and getting control for the right drug lvls to maintain his epilepsy will take some time and everyday factors such as stress can bring about his episode.

[Madness]

Most of the time it's a manageable disease, let's hope that's the case and he has a chance of keep doing what he likes to do.

[wittdooley]

Most of the time it's a manageable disease, let's hope that's the case and he has a chance of keep doing what he likes to do.

My guess is that one of the major issues would be that his profession requires that he sit and type at a computer for extended periods of time.... hopefully it wasn't a cause....

Anyways, I hope Dan takes it easy for a bit. Whenever his book comes out, we all know it will be stellar.

[Marshal2Crusaders]

A friend of mine died from it, so it CAN be serious.

Here's hoping Dan has the mild version.

He died from the disease or an accident related to it? I was unaware epilepsy was lethal, only that it's attacks can cause damage due to the loss of bodily control

[Mike X]

A friend of mine died from it, so it CAN be serious.

Here's hoping Dan has the mild version.

People can die from anything. You can die from herpes providing the sores get infected enough.

"There is no more fatal condition than life itself."

[sicarius2424]

dan it poor guy he's like the best 40k author there is reading his book titanicus... it is awsome! right now i'm craxy about titans too bad i'm in america :( other wise i'd be all over them right now

[S0ndar]

I eagerly await any of Dan's books and could read Eisenhorn and Ravenor almost constantly. Dan's writing has been such a source of inspriation and support. I would like to wish him well and good luck with his current project.

[david5th]

I think we would all like to wish Dan good look and hopefully this will only have a small impact on his life.

[Jive Tyrant]

People can die from anything. You can die from herpes providing the sores get infected enough.

Why don't you read the post I was replying to before you write such an insensitive comment?

My friend was alone, had a fit, collapsed and suffocated. If he had not had such severe epilepsy, he would be alive today. Epilepsy is not a condition to be ignored, and certainly cannot be compared with herpes in terms of seriousness.

[Lerra]

He died from the disease or an accident related to it? I was unaware epilepsy was lethal, only that it's attacks can cause damage due to the loss of bodily control

Epilepsy is a very variable disease. I volunteer at a local charity for people with the more severe cases of epilepsy (my dad died of epilepsy last year). In some cases, it is easily controlled with proper medication. In other cases, it's a lifelong disability that constantly causes problems but you are still able to live your life. In the worst cases, you spend most of your life in the hospital, acquire serious brain damage, and can never live a normal life. The more severe form is comparable to Alzheimer's Disease in that you reach a point of brain damage where you need constant supervision and have lost most of your personality to the disease.

For people with uncontrolled epilepsy, there is a 1 in 100 chance of dying every year due to a complication called SUDEP, which happens when there is a seizure in the part of the brain that controls breathing and heart beat. Sometimes this cause of death is called "unexplained suffocation" because you simply fall down and stop breathing. This happens without warning - the person could be in otherwise good health and simply drop dead. The risk of SUDEP is only about 1 in 1000 per year for sufferers of mild epilepsy (ten times less likely than with sufferers of uncontrolled epilepsy), but it does mean that a person with epilepsy has a 8-25% chance of dying of SUDEP over their lifetimes. Doctors often don't tell patients about SUDEP because there is no way to prevent it or treat it. You might remember John Travolta's epileptic son who died? He died of SUDEP at age 16.

There is also risk of falling or injuring yourself during a seizure, but that usually only causes minor injuries unless you are driving.

My dad started having uncontrolled seizures about 10 years ago (he would have seizures severe enough to land him in the hospital about 3 times a month). The medication was only slightly effective. The seizures caused slowly accruing brain damage, to the point where he quickly lost his job and we needed to put him in a nursing home 3 years ago at which point he no longer could tie his shoes, sometimes did not recognize family members, did not know the date, etc. We put him in the home because he would forget that he couldn't drive anymore. He got his seizures under better control, and after a year or so started to recover from the brain damage, to the point where he was mostly himself again and recognized his family. He came home and died of SUDEP shortly thereafter at age 62.

A lot of the people that I work with are age 20-30 and are similarly disabled.

[Dark_Templar]

Well, considering a prolonged seizure can result in permanent damage / death, and factoring in things like status epilepticus, you need to realise it CAN be serious.

However, the majority of people with epilepsy are able to live normal lives with the aid of either surgery or anti-convulsants.

Yes, I am epileptic, was diagnosed about 9 years ago and at one point was having seizures at least once a week, sometimes up to 5 within a few minutes. My neurosurgeon friend offered to remove part of my brain to stop them, but I decided to just take a crap load of medication instead.

In hindsight, the surgery probably would have been better.

[HsojVvad]

Even though I don't know him, and I don't think I read any of his books, I hate to see someone is sick. I do hope he gets better though. I know it can be serious, had a friend who had attacks and was left black and blue from bruising. So I hope he becomes ok.

Just as a side note, anyone can have an attack even if they think they don't have it. That is why now every computer and conosle game gives warnings about epilipsy on page one or two. Even rock concerts give the warnings now because of the stobe lights and what not. Anything can trigger it, just some harmless flashing lights, and you can be effected. It happened to a bunch of children watching Pokemon about 10 years ago.

So I do hope he has a mild case and will be ok.

[Akimbo Lizard]

I hope he doesn't have Primary Reading Epilepsy or I'm committing suicide ( this i a joke and not a suicide note )

[Lazarus15]

Dang Tyranid micro spores....at it again. Best luck Dan.