Clive James, the Australian writer and broadcaster known around the world for his dry wit, has died at the age of 80.
Diagnosed with CLL in 2010, the author and critic had movingly written about his terminal illness during the final years of his life including the comment in October 2015, that he admitted to feeling "embarrassment" at still being alive thanks to experimental drug treatment.
Sad and so sorry to hear this. He was huge talent ! Loved his TV shows in the 80’s / 90’s particularly remembering the hilarious Cuban singer Margarita Pracatan ! RIP Clive x
I’m just having a chuckle at his descriptive power in reading how he’d described Dame Barbara Cartland;
‘He was equally waspish when describing Dame Barbara Cartland, whose eyes he said "looked like the corpses of two small crows that had crashed into a chalk cliff".
Remembering those exaggerated false eyelashes she used to wear set against her deathly pale face made this so apt! 😁
I can remembering him raising the profile of CLL when I was diagnosed and he’s testimony to the fact that a terminal diagnosis in CLL can last 10 yrs!
It’s terminology that is used simply because the definition of ‘terminal’ is something that cannot be cured and has an end expectation of death.
It has to be remembered J_88 that when Clive James was initially diagnosed he was pretty poorly (with other serious illnesses too) and there weren’t the novel treatments there are now. He actually did ok in the circumstances and Ibrutinib prolonged his life beyond all predictions.
None of us here think of ourselves in ‘terminal’ terms though sadly we do have some members who have exhausted all options. That’s an unavoidable reality but it’s not something you personally need to be worrying about. You still have a very long life to live!
I’m sorry we have lost him, but was always puzzled by how the CLL was described. And on BBC tonight they called it 'terminal leukaemia', which sounds a bit - I don’t know - final? Glad he had his 10 years 😀!
I think the important factor is just how much treatments have progressed over those 10 yrs. Even when I was dx the options were much more limited and less favourable for the people with higher risk prognostic factors.
You can be sure we are not classed as terminal however. Just try claiming for DLA under the terminal rules! 😉
He also appeared to have several other health issues, kidney and lungs. Just seen his interview with Mary Beard and he still had that amazing sense of humour.
Clive James had multiple health issues in addition to CLL including emphysema. There was nothing in the press to say what the exact cause of death was.
Clive James did live with CLL for a long time, but his other health conditions didn't help, primarily damage to his lungs from smoking. I can't imaging how debilitating he must have found it with anaemia on top of emphysema. A few years back his health wasn't up to supporting available treatments, so he didn't think he had long to live, but then he received a much appreciated life extension from Ibrutinib!
Here’s a quote that I posted three years ago which clarifies Clive’s medication: “People keep telling me, with an undercurrent of suspicion, that I'm looking well, as if I’ve been faking the whole thing, and I suppose they’ve got a point. I’m unreasonably well-looking for where I’m at. Really what’s happened is my leukaemia came out of remission. Quite seriously, everything was taking a dive. But a new drug came online which is holding the leukaemia in check, but we have to rebalance the antibiotics. I was kept alive long enough for a new drug to come on line. It’s specific for my brand of leukaemia. I’m alive in a lucky time in history, otherwise I would have been dead. The drug I’m on now, it’s got a wonderful name — Ibrutinib. Sounds like Marvel Comics: I Brutinib — you Jane!”
Very sorry to hear he had died. Humor is good medicine. May a coincidence however seems like a lot of Cll patients are in the entertainment business or other lime light.
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