Harry Potter's Page >>>F E E D<<< Your Potter Addiction

Documentary Video: Rowling Reveals Regrets and Frustrations

During an interview for a BBC Scotland documentary, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowing revealed that she regretted not telling her mother about Harry Potter prior to her mother's death. Her mother died due to complications of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) six months after Jo began writing about Harry Potter.

"I started writing Harry six months before she died. That's obviously a real regret, because I never told her I was even writing it. She knew I wanted to write - I'm not sure how seriously she took it. She never knew anything about Harry Potter at all."

Jo also expressed her frustration for funding of MS research and her pain at watching her mother's decline from the disease.

Because of her experience with her mother's disease, Jo is a patron of the VOLANT Charitable Trust, which supports MS research and issues dealing with social deprivation, with a particular emphasis on women’s and children’s issues.

You can see a video of her interview here. You can read the entire article here. The documentary is scheduled to air tomorrow.

Rate this article! 12345 |

| Average 3| Total 4

Print | RSS | Return Home |

by Dijares @ 24 Jul 2008 - 12:01

Okay, then, are you saying that JK Rowling is lying and that her mother didn't die due to her battle with MS? I really hope you don't get MS, because it isn't fun. I've known people with it. What I am saying is that because of the issues that come with MS, people can die. And that's what happened with JKR's mother. So drop it. I'm not going to argue with you, b/c basically you're calling JKR a liar.

Let me explain something to you, because I have dealt with hundreds of patients who have had mild illnesses to those who have a disease in which they have never woken up from and later died. You can't lump diseases into a certain bracket and expect them to always come out that way. Each patient is different - each case is different. Obviously, Jo's mother's case was very severe, as she stated on her site:

"The worst thing that happened during my teenage years was my mother becoming ill. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is a disease of the central nervous system, when I was fifteen. Although most people with multiple sclerosis experience periods of remission - when their illness stops progressing for a while, or even improves - Mum was unlucky; from the time of her diagnosis onwards she seemed to become slowly but steadily worse. I think most people believe, deep down, that their mothers are indestructible; it was a terrible shock to hear that she had an incurable illness, but even then, I did not fully realise what the diagnosis might mean...

I moved up to Manchester, taking the swelling manuscript with me, which was now growing in all sorts of strange directions, and including ideas for the rest of Harry's career at Hogwarts, not just his first year. Then, on December 30th 1990, something happened that changed both my world and Harry's forever: my mother died.

It was a terrible time. My father, Di and I were devastated; she was only forty five years old and we had never imagined - probably because we could not bear to contemplate the idea - that she could die so young. I remember feeling as though there was a paving slab pressing down upon my chest, a literal pain in my heart."

Source: http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm

So to say that no one dies due to their battle with MS is wrong - 100% wrong. So, don't argue with me on this one, because it's not an argument you'll win.

by @ 24 Jul 2008 - 10:13

I'm not a disease expert. I barely graduated high school. However, I do know how to use a search engine:

In rare cases MS is so malignantly progressive it is terminal, but most people with MS have a normal or near-normal life expectancy. Severe MS can shorten life.

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/FAQs-about-MS/index.aspx#fatal

Most people with multiple sclerosis can expect 95 percent of the normal life expectancy.

http://www.antigenics.com/diseases/ms.html

Top Resources on Multiple Sclerosis Life Expectancy

http://organizedwisdom.com/Multiple_Sclerosis_Life_Expectancy

MS is neither contagious nor fatal. People with MS have a life expectancy that is not really any different from the general population. The leading causes of death in the MS community are heart disease, cancer, and stroke. MS tends to affect quality of life, not quantity of life. There are unusual variants of MS than can be very aggressive and potentially shorten life, but these are not the norm

http://www.silverspringcenter.com/Healthy/ms.htm

Multiple sclerosis is NOT a fatal disease. The average life expectancy for a person with MS is approximately 90% - 95% of the normal life span.

http://www.managing-multiple-sclerosis.com/?s=betaseron

Exactly how are you qualifying my questioning you as harassment?

by Dijares @ 23 Jul 2008 - 14:51

Well, you asked for it...

"the symptoms may become constant, resulting in a progressive disease with possible blindness, paralysis, and premature death. (Source: excerpt from Understanding Autoimmune Disease: NIAID)

Prognosis of Multiple Sclerosis discussion: The disease is degenerative, often with a fluctuating course. Average life expectancy is 35 years after onset of symptoms. Most people with MS can function effectively; however, a rare form of acute MS can be fatal within weeks. "
Source: http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/m/multiple_sclerosis/prognosis.htm

MS is an auto immune disease that attacks the nervous system. Therefore secondary things (i.e. complications) can cause a person to die whereas a person without MS would survive. These things can include bladder or renal problems, or other diseases.

JKR has never discusses what exactly her mother died of (what secondary complications, etc), but her mother did have MS, and because of this, she died at the age of 45. End of story. Keep going, b/c next time I'll block your IP.

Again, I do have experience in the field of diseases, and though this is not a communicable disease (it's really not known where it comes from), you can't state that people with MS don't have any issues (complications) or that those issues caused by MS can't be fatal.

Unless you're an epidemiologies or a disease expert, please try not to pester me about this. And if you data to back up your claim, then please show it. Sure, there's plenty of instances where people with MS live, with adjustments, a long life, but unfortunately for Jo's mom, that didn't happen.

by @ 23 Jul 2008 - 12:48

What sort of fatal complications are associated with MS?

by Dijares @ 22 Jul 2008 - 20:59

Alright, due to MS. Just like you don't die of AIDS, but, rather, due to complications due to AIDS, right? I do happen to have a masters in Public Health...However, her mother's 'complications' were not discussed... But she did die because of MS.

Sorry you hit a nerve... neo

by @ 22 Jul 2008 - 15:14

You don't "die of MS."