Dawkins has a stroke; full recovery expected

February 12, 2016 • 7:30 am

This news had now become public courtesy of the Guardian, so I guess I can announce it here. On the day I arrived in Oxford (Saturday), Richard suffered a minor stroke at his home, which caused some temporary paralysis on one side but left his cognitive functions and speech intact. It was mild and caught early, so he’s expected to make a full recovery. Several of us have heard from him via an audio message, and although he sounds a bit tired, you wouldn’t know from his voice that anything was amiss. He’s at home and being well taken care of by Lalla.

Needless to say, he’ll have to cancel his appearance as moderator of my Darwin Day talk tonight (my old friend Steve Jones will be filling in), as well as the other Darwin Day talk in Nottingham and his upcoming tours of Australia and New Zealand. Join me in wishing him well. If you’re going to have a stroke, this is about the mildest form you can have, and I’m delighted that the prognosis is for a full recovery.

69 thoughts on “Dawkins has a stroke; full recovery expected”

  2. Best wishes to Richard Dawkins. I read about this in The Guardian too – online anyway – in a supremely snide, mean-spirited article that took a few digs at the man on the way.

    The more I read of The Graun the more I find myself drifting further away from it.

    1. Best wishes for a healthy and happy life to Richard Dawkins: he’s already up and tweeting, I see.

      As for the Guardian, I’ve seen a lifetime of moral duplicity and underhandedness from classic liberals: not a surprise, really, Saul. x

      1. Not anymore no, but I can’t help finding it depressing. I grew up with The Guardian as my default – my dad used to take me on the back of his bike when he cycled to their offices to drop off illustrations and he had a weekly piece for most of my life. That and they were the paper of the middle-class left. Natural fit really. But lately I buy The Independent, and even that irritates me frequently. As a result of the increasingly polarised political scene in the English-speaking world there seems nowhere for a centre-left liberal to call home. Woe is me(and now The Indy’s going that leaves just two left-of-center national newspapers in Britain).

      1. Perhaps I read into something that wasn’t there but I found the little dig about memes irritating considering it was a news article about the guy having a stroke.

        1. All I could think was, “If there is a god, that god doesn’t want Richard dead, or the stroke would have occurred in flight, halfway between England and Australia, over some large ocean.”

          And just now finding out Scalia is dead!!! Scalia the bigoted bible thumper is dead and Dawkins the atheist is not. Almost makes me want to believe there is a god, and that god is on the side of atheists!

  6. Best wishes to a full and speedy recovery to Prof. Dawkins.

    On another topic, today is the 117th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Rare to have two such consequential individuals born on the same day.

      1. And when, this American morning, I brought in to work treats to share with co – workers in celebration of y2016’s Darwin Day ? … … folks — all of ‘em long and long adults — folks went all like, “Huh ? Darwin Day ? Wha”s that ? What’s Darwin Day ? ”

        I despair.
        Blue

        ps sometimes

        1. Yeah = ‘despair’ cuz ‘work’ ?

          Work =s a very, very longstanding, public / land – grant university !

          And my particular division within it ? a unit (allegedly) dedicated over to, … … wait for it, scientific researches specifically for … … environmental sustainability !

          Yeah, I despair sometimes.
          Blue

  8. Not good news but certainly not the worst. Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery to Dr. Dawkins.

  12. I sincerely hope for speedy recovery of Richard Dawkins so we may have many insights into life and philosphy from his pen.

  13. No worries, Richard Dawkins has excellent genes. His mother is still going strong at 90+ years. Looking forward to Magic of Reality II.

  16. Get to your best very soon Professor Dawkins. Have just recently finished your latest book and look forward to the next.

  17. Get well soon Professor Dawkins. We’ll miss you tonight at the BHA Darwin Day lecture, but I’m looking forward to hearing from PCC(Emeritus)and hope to hear you speak at future lectures.

  18. May this “mini-stroke” actually become a life-saver for Richard.

    An old quote (possibly from Sir William Osler, the Father of Modern Medicine) said/suggested that a man, given the diagnosis of a chronic or incurable disease, will live longer for taking better care of his health.

    I wish Richard a long and healthy life, with only this one episode for impetus.

  19. I too wish him a speedy and complete recovery. As Daniel Dennett had said: ‘Thank Goodness!

  22. It is smashing, Dr Dawkins, to read that you are back at home. Many thoughts and wishes are with you — among which are our collective THANKS for your and for all of your medical caretakers’ scientific knowledge — in order to be able to get you on over to the recovering point at where .this. soon will be but a memory from history.

    Blue

  25. A little PSA: Time is the enemy for strokes. Almost all strokes can be alleviated with medical attention if caught early. After an hour without treatment, the quality of life afterwards diminishes rapidly.

    Good news, one can still live a long time after a successfully treated stroke.

    1. Yes, when having a heart attack or stroke, receiving treatment in time is essential. Hence, people should be able to recognize the symptoms of heart attack and stroke (I mean mostly the people who are old enough to have a heart attack or a stroke).
      See for instance:
      Symptom recognition of heart attack and stroke in nine European countries: a representative survey. Health Expectations, June 2014
      This is a study done in Europe probing knowledge of the symptoms of heart attacks and strokes. Result (quoting from the abstract):
      The majority of persons in nine European countries recognize few heart attack and stroke symptoms; many do not know how to react. This low level of knowledge constitutes a major health risk and likely leads to delay in treatment, contributing to the high mortality and morbidity from these diseases.

      1. (I mean mostly the people who are old enough to have a heart attack or a stroke)

        A contemporary form my school days had a heart attack and died a couple of weeks after his 19th birthday.
        “old enough to have a heart attack or stroke” starts at about 3 minutes after delivery.

        The majority of persons in nine European countries recognize few heart attack and stroke symptoms; many do not know how to react.

        I have long argued that people should not be allowed to finish school and go into the “world of work” without passing a significant exam in first aid. (OK, some caveats for the damaged and the most extremely stupid of people.)

    2. By coincidence, the UK has for a year or so been under a substantial campaign to educate people in recognition of the symptoms of stroke under the slogan of “FAST” (Faces, Arms, Speech and Time to call an ambulance). I believe that it has been somewhat effective at reducing the time-to-treatment of stroke victims.

  26. Respect and best wishes for a full and swift recovery Richard. Perhaps a vacation is in order.

  27. Get well soon Richard Dawkins.
    A mate of mine had a similar stroke late in life and years later he’s still going strong.

  28. I posted my best wishes on the Hili thread; but I’ll repeat them here: get better soon, Richard; the world has need of your work for a good while yet.

  29. The smartass in me read this first as “Dawkins reads Guardian article, has stroke”… so I had to scroll back and actually read your post start to finish, and I’m glad I did.

    I’m so thankful that we have medical researchers actively working on treatments that have dramatically reduced the aftermath of strokes. No prayers or animal sacrifices or homeopathy or magnets or chakras required. Science. To the rescue.

    The National Stroke Association has a website where there are many ways to help.
    http://www.stroke.org/ways-give

  32. Get well soon Richard Dawkins.
    I’m not praying for you as there is probably no supernatural to pray to and Victor J. Stenger wrote that studies show it doesn’t help.
    This is yet more evidence that there is no cosmic god as any being worthy of the name would keep our leading lights & defenders of truth safe and well to battle the warping influence of iron age idle myth worshipers.

    I’m reading the autobiographies of Richard Dawkins. It is great that Youtube has clips of the people he mentions and Wikipedia gives more background information. I have found many great links through it; such as other good books on Amazon.

  34. His survival of a mild stroke is proof POSITIVE that prayer doesn’t work: you can be sure that many fundamentalists have prayed earnestly for his demise for years….

  37. RD is not my favorite person, though I greatly respect his science education and anti-religion work. His faux feminism is very annoying.

    BUT… I’ve seen the results of a “small stroke”, recovery is often not quite complete and one’s body is permanently just kind of not right, in subtle but annoying ways. There are very few people who I would wish this on, and RD is definitely not one of them.

    Get well quickly, Dr. Dawkins! I wish you a full recovery.

    1. “BUT… I’ve seen the results of a “small stroke”, recovery is often not quite complete”

      My wife, a nurse in elder care for nearly 30 years, had something similar to say when I told her he was expected to make a complete recovery.

  38. Beat wishes for a speedy recovery. I was looking forward to his presentation at Aedelaide Writers’ Week, but this is not to be.

  39. Best wishes for a speedy and thorough recovery. I look forward to your work for many more years.

  43. This came through on the an Australian Humanist Site – and it gives more detail, and how prepared he was for anything untoward.

    This is from Karen Owens:

    Richard Dawkins was to appear in February 12, 2016 in London with Jerry Coyne for the British Humanist Association Darwin Day event and later at events in Australia & New Zealand. He had to cancel all events. Since the Sydney Opera House has finally broken the basic story publicly on the reason why, I now feel free to add details before rumors start to fly. Friday night, February 5th, around 5:00 PM (UK time), Richard had a hemorrhagic stroke in the deep white matter of his right brain, affecting his left side. He was alone at home in Oxford. He had the presence of mind to realize he was having a stroke, struggled to his cell phone and called his wife Lalla who was in London at the time. She called a friend who has a key to their house, and then an ambulance. Because of all this, he survived. He was in John Radcliffe hospital until Tuesday the 9th and is now home. Richard underwent his first physical therapy on Wednesday the 10th at home. There are some people who would like to take Richard down and one way would be with rumors that his mind is gone. I’m happy to report that HIS COGNITIVE FACULTIES ARE THUS FAR INTACT. I know this for certain because he sent a few friends, including me, two tapes he made after the stroke, because it was too difficult for him to type Emails. His speech is only minimally impaired. The worst of it is that his face is partially paralyzed on the left. His smile is crooked. He can barely use his left hand and arm. Fortunately, he is right-handed. He has difficulty aiming at and picking things up with his left hand and more difficulty letting them go. The fact that he can use his left hand at all gives great hope for a full recovery. You can wish him well on the Richard Dawkins Foundation website or on Twitter @RichardDawkins.

    1. That is, indeed, more stroke than I was imagining. It’s not a “mini-stroke” at all. I was hoping for the least, but, at least, it’s not the worst.

      Here’s to a full and fast recovering, Richard! Our thoughts and hopes are with you.

      And, here’s to Lalla and to your neighbor for their quick, decisive actions!

  45. Very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery Richard.

    (I was lucky enough to meet Richard in Boston in 2014 at one of his fundraising dinners).

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