He was diagnosed more than two years ago, but only now decided to make it public. It will be the subject of his next book “Before anything.”
The Argentine journalist and writer Martin Caparros revealed this Saturday that he suffers from a serious illness with a “life expectancy of three to five years”. It is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and he announced that it will be the issue that will address your next book “Before anything”, to be published in October.
Caparros67 years old, explained that ALS “’it’s like a accelerated agingbut scientists don’t even understand how that biological process works. What they do know is that life expectancy is three to five yearsthat at some point you have trouble breathing or even speaking. And at some point you die,” Caparrós said when asked about the news of his illness.
The author of “Hunger” and “The Will”, among other books, was diagnosed with this illness more than two years ago, but only now decided to make it public in an interview for the Spanish media La Vanguardia. “I didn’t want my friends to see me as a dying man.. I only told Marta (his partner) when I found out two and a half years ago. And I said it in the book, since I started writing it, without knowing if I was going to publish it or not.”
Because of ALS he had to postpone writing for a few months. “I had to rest,” he said. Among other symptoms, he began to feel discomfort in his arms. Despite this, At the beginning of 2024 he decided to edit it. “You were looking forward to it,” stated
From what emerges from the interview, The book is a kind of review of his life and a testament. “I saw that It was interesting that double journey, through my life and through my illness.but what made me decide to publish it was that I gave it to Marta to read and she agreed; and that I started to have symptoms in my arms, so that I was going to come out whether I wanted to or not. I could no longer continue saying that I had no diagnosis, that It was something unknown that only affected my legs.”he added.
What is ALS, the disease that Caparrós suffers from?
ALS is a not very common neurodegenerative disease that affects the muscles. It is progressive. As time goes by, the person begins to lose mobility in parts of their body. You may even have difficulty speaking, breathing, and feeding.
This disease affects mobility because it attacks the motor neurons, which are responsible for moving the voluntary muscles of the body. It can affect young people and adults. It is the same pathology that was diagnosed to the former Minister of Education of the Nation during the Cambiemos government, Esteban Bullrich.
There are two types. familial ALS and sporadic in nature. The first is the one that is transmitted through the mutation of certain genes. The of a sporadic natureHowever, there is no family history in the patient that causes the disease. It is estimated that it represents 90% of cases.
Source: Ambito
