BBC Scotland will run a multiple sclerosis documentary tomorrow which will feature an interview with J.K. Rowling. In it, Rowling, the patron of the
Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, speaks about the lack of available funding for research, and how difficult it was to watch her mother die of the disease. She also says she regrets that her mother never knew she had begun writing
Harry Potter.
Quote:
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.
Source:
Yahoo! via
UHP UPDATE: BBC News 24 this evening aired preview clips of the interview which can be found online at BBC Scotland
here. The video is only available to those in the U.K. however the article does detail most of what she says.
Quote:
"When I left home, she was walking unaided. By the time I graduated, she was in a wheelchair and in the house she needed a walking frame.
"It was awful to watch."
Quote:
"It's a Cinderella of illnesses, you hear this all the time, because it's under-funded, because it's ignored," she said.
"I think it's possibly common to a lot of neurological conditions. It just seems to be an area that has not seemed very sexy for funding."
Rowling, patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, added: "People get diagnosed and sent home. It's a frustration to those of us whose family members do have MS that so little is being done, because it is a life-altering condition and a lot can be done now, so why isn't that happening?"
UPDATE #2: A video of this above mentioned clip can now be seen below, thanks to
Potterish;
The documentary,
Scotland's Hidden Epidemic: The truth about MS, will air on Wednesday, July 23, on BBC One Scotland at 10:45 p.m. BST.