Roger Ebert: The Essential Man (what a sad article)

Esquire ^ | 2/16/10 | Chris Jones

[Borges]

It has been nearly four years since Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw and his ability to speak. Now television's most famous movie critic is rarely seen and never heard, but his words have never stopped.

....................................................... Seven years ago, he recovered quickly from the surgery to cut out his cancerous thyroid and was soon back writing reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times and appearing with Richard Roeper on At the Movies. A year later, in 2003, he returned to work after his salivary glands were partially removed, too, although that and a series of aggressive radiation treatments opened the first cracks in his voice. In 2006, the cancer surfaced yet again, this time in his jaw. A section of his lower jaw was removed; Ebert listened to Leonard Cohen. Two weeks later, he was in his hospital room packing his bags, the doctors and nurses paying one last visit, listening to a few last songs. That's when his carotid artery, invisibly damaged by the earlier radiation and the most recent jaw surgery, burst. Blood began pouring out of Ebert's mouth and formed a great pool on the polished floor. The doctors and nurses leapt up to stop the bleeding and barely saved his life. Had he made it out of his hospital room and been on his way home — had his artery waited just a few more songs to burst — Ebert would have bled to death on Lake Shore Drive. Instead, following more surgery to stop a relentless bloodletting, he was left without much of his mandible, his chin hanging loosely like a drawn curtain, and behind his chin there was a hole the size of a plum. He also underwent a tracheostomy, because there was still a risk that he could drown in his own blood. When Ebert woke up and looked in the mirror in his hospital room, he could see through his open mouth and the hole clear to the bandages that had been wrapped around his neck to protect his exposed windpipe and his new breathing tube. He could no longer eat or drink, and he had lost his voice entirely. That was more than three years ago.

Ebert spent more than half of a thirty-month stretch in hospitals. His breathing tube has been removed, but the hole in his throat remains open. He eats through a G-tube — he's fed with a liquid paste, suspended in a bag from an IV pole, through a tube in his stomach. He usually eats in what used to be the library, on the brownstone's second floor. (It has five stories, including a gym on the top floor and a theater — with a neon marquee — in the basement.) A single bed with white sheets has been set up among the books, down a hallway filled with Ebert's collection of Edward Lear watercolors. He shuffles across the wooden floor between the library and his living room, where he spends most of his time in a big black leather recliner, tipped back with his feet up and his laptop on a wooden tray. There is a record player within reach. The walls are white, to show off the art, which includes massive abstracts, movie posters (Casablanca, The Stranger), and aboriginal burial poles. Directly in front of his chair is a black-and-white photograph of the Steak 'n Shake in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, one of his hometown hangouts.

[Little Ray]

Sorry. I get almost as much pleasure from some “reference material” as I do from “fun books.” Which is considerable!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

He’s someone who actually deserved his Pulitzer.

[cajungirl]

I wish your daughter luck and a good outcome.

[EveningStar]

Thank you for posting this.

[Borges]

You’re welcome.

[Ramius]

I’ve never heard any of this before.

Wow.

[Tolsti2]

When he stays off politics, he’s a great read. When he gets into, it’s like listening to Trotsky. It’s sometimes difficult to keep them seperate, but I usually try.

[latina4dubya]

I’ve never understood why writers must literally wall themselves in with books. As if you must be surrounded by knowledge to write with knowledge. I’m surprised they don’t have text etched into their clothes.

i find this lifetstyle rather appeallng... maybe some day...

[sarasota]

Thanks. I can’t say that I was comfortable with this decision in the early days and months, but seeing the outcome and her attitude and continued well being, I have the peace that comes with understanding her position and my desire to be part of this solution.