Posted on 06/30/2010 5:08:13 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
OS ANGELES (Reuters) – British-born author Christopher Hitchens on Wednesday cut short a book tour to undergo chemotherapy, which several media outlets reported was because the heavy smoker has been diagnosed with cancer.
"I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice," Hitchens, 61, said in a statement released through his publishers Twelve.
A representative for the publisher offered no details beyond the statement.
Hitchens, known to be a heavy smoker, launched a book tour last month to promote his memoir "Hitch 22" which tackles subjects ranging from the Middle East and Zimbabwe to his friendships with prominent writers including Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis.
As a journalist, critic and war correspondent, Hitchens has carved out a reputation for barbed repartee, scathing critiques of public figures and a fierce intelligence.
In his 2008 book "God Is Not Great", Hitchens put himself on a collision course with major religions with his trenchant atheist views.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I'm truly sorry to learn of Mr. Hitchens' plight regardless of his lack of beliefs.
For a non-believer to receive such a health report, should put him ever so closer to a look at exactly what he claims to believe to be his future in the hereafter.
Maybe, it's now time to reevaluate.
Hopeful prayers lifted for Mr. Hitchens recovery, and conversion, as well as for all the fine FReepers on this wondrous thread.
God bless,
Tatt
I never saw that before...thanks!
See...I used to spend hours listening to and watching his discussions...but he has become so obsessed with the Huffington/Maher crowd over the last 5 or 6 years that I just can’t take it any longer.
Prayers with you devane.
I can pray that prayer too.
I deeply admire Mr. Christopher Hitchens, although I don’t agree with his stance on God.
I’m praying for him to come home, as he was raised in a Methodist home of believing parents.
That needs to be posted her for posterity.
I have listened to many, many hours of Christopher Hitchens speaking. I’ve read his attacks upon my faith, listened to him blaspheme in public, etc. And yet I cannot help but like the man personally, who has such a quick sense of humor and a streak of honesty that I know comes straight from common grace. He has surprised me many times, showing an insight into the errors of his evidentialist Christian opponents that many others lack. Let’s pray for Mr. Hitchens that God will use this providence to bring to his mind the many, many times he has heard the truth. His detestation of the Christian faith runs very deep, but as we all know, God is glorified when God-haters are turned into God-lovers. Should God mercifully extend his life, I hope we will get a chance to meet. May God be pleased to reveal to him the Lord of Glory, and turn his heart from rebellion to realize that the one thing he rails against most, that of submission to one’s Creator, is the greatest freedom the creature can know.
http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=4021
AMEN!!
Well... Hell??? Christopher??
He does not pay dual income taxes. We live in the US and Britain does not require non-resident citizens to pay income tax unless the income is earned in the UK.
If we were to have income earned in the UK (say, from an investment there) then it gets a little complicated. That happened only once since we’ve been married, and it’s been some years ago. But the income tax paid to the one gets credited by the other. In the US, you use IRS Form 1116 to calculate the “Foreign Tax Credit”. You only pay the difference, if there is one.
I like Hitch. And though I know he’d disapprove, I’ll pray for his recovery. I’ll never forget his firing the “finger” at the audience on Bill Maher’s show. I can’t remember what he was riled about but knowing the compostion of Maher’s audience it was certainly justified. His audience, much like the MSM, thinks Obama’s ass smells of ambrosia. That’s why they have their tongues up his rectum.
I wonder why they go out of their way to mention smoking, when it is probably more likely that Hitch’s fondness for spirits is responsible, if anything, for this cancer?
Eerily, the preface for his recent memoir begins with an anecdote of how he found himself described in an art gallery exposition brochure as “the late Christopher Hitchens” in a photo of the exhibition’s subject, his friend Martin Amis.
I remember he was very low-key. Very easy person to talk to.
He's a good man, just wrong about much. And his hatred of religion is a bit manic.
He’s a pretty good libertarian. Too many of them are nutty. As a former atheist, I understood his position on religion. Too many religious people come completely unglued when you disagree with them. I imagine there is a long list of “religious” people who would like to see his head on a stick.
It depends on the cancer. If it’s lymphoma or testicular cancer, for example, they’re curable by chemo only. Esophageal cancer is not curable with chemo alone. Obviously, I don’t have his medical records, but, suffice it to say, it doesn’t sound good.
Well done. Thanks.
We should pray that he gets health care better than what the UK has to offer. From what we’ve seen, he’s pretty much a dead man if he has to turn to the NHS for treatment.
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