Free Republic

Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, has died of a rare blood disease, his aide said Monday. He was 58. Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said. The disease attacks the body's major organs; in Jordan's case, it caused the walls of his heart to thicken.

His official blog seems to be overloaded with traffic right now, but his cousin posted earlier that James Rigney, the author of the Wheel of Time series, died earlier today after a year long fight against amyloidosis. Author Patrick Nielsen Hayden has a discussion on his blog. James Rigney was a good guy and his death is sad news for all of his fans. Not only was he a great author, he was a great patriot as well. He served in the army in Vietnam earning (from Wikipedia) the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star...

Dear Locus, I have been diagnosed with amyloidosis. That is a rare blood disease which affects only 8 people out of a million each year, and those 8 per million are divided among 22 distinct forms of amyloidosis. They are distinct enough that while some have no treatment at all, for the others, the treatment that works on one will have no effect whatsoever on any of the rest. An amyloid is a misshapen or misfolded protein that can be produced by various parts of the body and which may deposit in other parts of the body (nerves or organs)...