Peter David’s Stroke

While on vacation in Florida, Peter David, a fantastic writer who’s penned both comics and novels, suffered a stroke. In a post made on David’s website by his wife, she mentioned he had trouble sleeping before the accident, had blurry vision in his right eye, drooping of one side of his face, loss of feeling in his hand and was unable to move his right leg correctly, which are all early warning signs of a stroke. He was taken to the sadistically (if unintentionally) named Celebration Hospital and was then transferred to Florida Hospital in downtown Orlando. After his stroke on December 29th, 2012, David’s wife Kathleen said in a post on his website he has "lost most of the use of his right arm, his right leg is incredibly weak, the vision in his right eye is blurry, and the right side of his face is drooping slightly.” But she insisted that “the brain is there with all its quips and quick retorts… He has had the nurses laughing a lot.” David also posted recently on twitter that the double vision in his right eye has cleared up completely. David was diagnosed as having a small stroke in the pons area of his brain. The pons area controls functions like breathing, feeling and movement in the face and eyes, and hearing. Mrs. David also mentioned that total recovery is slim because brain damage can’t go away, but she is hopeful that the brain will be trained to work around the damage. Peter David is one of the few comic book writers I’ve actually met in person and he seems like a great and funny guy. I hope he gets well soon. In the meantime, his wife has been posting on his blog but David himself posted an update about his condition and recovery. He thanked all the support he was getting from his fans who have been making an effort to help. He even got a visit in the hospital from his friend and renowned horror novelist Stephen King. So what can you do to help? To cover the cost of Peter David’s medical bills you can donate. But the most direct way to help is to buy one of David’s creator-owned e-books (like his vampire story Pulling Up Stakes) on Crazy 8 Press from ComicMix, Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. If you buy using Amazon, please use this link, and if you buy using Barnes & Noble, please use this link, which will in turn bring in more funds for the writer. Or you can buy his current book X-Factor. For more information about Peter David and to track his recovery, go to his personal website.