After surgery for cancer of the salivary gland that removed part of his jaw, operations to replace his mandible, and complications from unanticipated bleeding, film critic Roger Ebert “ain’t a pretty boy no more”:
I have been very sick, am getting better and this is how it looks. I still have my brain and my typing fingers.
Although months in bed after the bleeding episodes caused a lack of strength and coordination, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago restored my ability to walk on my own, climb stairs, etc.
I no longer use a walker much and the wheelchair is more for occasional speed and comfort than need. Just today we went for a long stroll in Lincoln Park.
We spend too much time hiding illness. There is an assumption that I must always look the same. I hope to look better than I look now. But I’m not going to miss my festival.
Damn straight. Keep thinking, writing, loving the movies, and helping us to do the same.
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If Roger Ebert ever helped you “love movies” you must have some sort of perpetual brain tumour, get it looked at.
Wow Richard, you sound like a real asshole. I guess you just couldn’t pass up a good cancer joke, huh?
Who suggested that Roger Ebert ever helped anyone love movies? I think the point of the original blog entry was just that Ebert clearly loves film, and it’s really wonderful to see him continuing to do what he does despite his health crises.
If you were to suffer a horrible life threatening illness that required disfiguring surgery, I should hope that you would have the dignity and courage to continue to pursue your dream of becoming a professional fluffer.
As a fellow film critic, I love and respect Roger Ebert for his important contributions to criticism and film as a whole. May he live long and prosper.