Roger Ebert - Not hiding his cancer

Good for him.

I grew up in Chicago, and film critics Siskel & Ebert were local celebrities who had been around my whole life. I was terribly sad when Gene Siskel passed away from an unspecified brain tumor. I saw Ebert on The Daily Show about a year ago, and I was shocked at his appearance -- his face looked plethoric and his neck far too thin. I think he may have made an oblique reference to some illness, and I surmised that he may have had a radical neck dissection. I had no clue till today of the true nature of his illness. It turns out he had a papillary thyroid cancer, which spread to a salivary gland and required removal of part of his mandible. Some truly horrible complications followed. Is sounds like, after a very rocky course, he is improving, and despite a radically altered appearance and the inability to speak, he is ready to resume some elements of public life.

He retains his trademark wit "I ain't a pretty boy no more," he says, paraphrasing the film Raging Bull.

Good for him, and I wish him well.