Frank McCourt gravely ill, brother says -- "Angela's Ashes" ... "'Tis" ...

[defendandprotect]

Frank McCourt gravely ill, brother says


By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Hillel Italie, Ap National Writer – 32 mins ago
NEW YORK – Frank McCourt is gravely ill with meningitis and is unlikely to survive, the author's brother said Thursday.

Malachy McCourt said that his 78-year-old brother, best known for the million-selling "Angela's Ashes," is in a New York hospice, "his faculties shutting down."

"He is not expected to live," said McCourt, himself an author and performer.

Frank McCourt was recently treated for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, but his brother says he had been doing well until about two weeks ago, when he contracted meningitis.

"He was out and about, being active, doing talks and so forth," Malachy McCourt said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090716/ap_on_en_ot/us_frank_mccourt



A sweet man -- we could have used someone like him on our Supreme Court --

[hlthe2b]

1. Ohhh... be at peace,dear man.... how sad...

[villager]

2. I actually shared a table with him once. Very charming, personable -- a lot like his writing...

As ever, the heavens seem to have their "karma lists" all switched around...

[villager]

3. dupe

n/t

[bbernardini]

4. My mother is from the same town as McCourt, Limerick. She has a picture of him...

...in the Irish equivalent of the Boy Scouts. One of her cousins was in it, and Frank McCourt is in the picture as well.

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. what a sweet man

the world will surely mourn his passing

[Captain Hilts]

6. He gave a lot of folks here in the US their only lesson on what poverty is like. nt

[Warpy]

7. "Angela's Ashes" was eerily familiar to me in parts

because of my own Irish Catholic childhood. Even without the component of grinding poverty, there was much that was familiar in that book. His perspective on it helped me develop a better one of my own.

His was a life lived well. I hope his passing is easy.

I am grateful to have shared the world with him.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Irish Central - THE source for Irish NYers has this

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Friends-gather-at-Frank-McCourts-bedside-to-say-farewell.html

Friends of the celebrated Irish writer Frank McCourt have been gathering at his bedside this past weekend to say their farewells.

The author of "Angela's Ashes" is gravely ill in a Manhattan hospice watched over by his devoted wife Ellen and other family members.

Several leading Irish American writers including Colm McCann and Peter Quinn have been among the visitors.

The writer recently suffered a recurrence of melanoma cancer which has not responded to treatment and now has spread to several organs.

McCourt's brother Malachy has confirmed that Frank is now suffering from meningitis.

"Frank was okay for a bit and we had hopes for a while after the treatment for melanoma, but the meningitis turned it all around, turned it topsy-turvy," said McCourt.

[Enthusiast]

9. My wife and I

loved his books.