Superstar comic book artist Carlos Pacheco, perhaps best known for the maxiseries Avengers Forever and the graphic novel, JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, as well as his runs on X-Men, Excalibur, Fantastic Four, Green Lantern and Captain America, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The Spanish artist made the tragic announcement on his Facebook page before deleting the post (he has since responded to tweets about the diagnosis, though).
ALS, also referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" (since the famous New York Yankee legend died of the illness) is an ailment that leads to the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. It eventually leads to paralysis and a greatly reduced lifespan.
The artist's Facebook post was in Spanish...
CBR's own Diane Darcy translated the post as follows:
Well, it cannot be. The final diagnostic has made it clear: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), aka ALS.It is what it is, and it is what needs to be dealt with. It’s true that this is an unexpected turn of events in my life, but this doesn’t make me feel less fortunate to have lived the life I have lived, for the experiences I’ve had, the achievements I’ve made, and the people I’ve been fortunate to cross paths with. In truth, it’s been a life that’s gone beyond my wildest childhood dreams. Thank you to everyone who has been here. Let’s keep going as always!
Earlier this year, Pacheco announced a sabbatical from comics while he dealt with health issues. At the time, he wrote:
As some of you probably know I suffered a paralysis of my right leg this past September," he wrote. "Since then I’ve been visiting neurologists trying to know what the heck was happening. After receiving the worst diagnosis possible they finally have discovered that the root of that is a compression of the nerves that go from the L5 to the legs and a little and hard to see fracture in that vertebra, so I will go to a hard dorsal spine surgery next sunday morning. The doctors say that I will need to suffer a rehab that will last between 8 and 12 months….+…That was the reason why I couldn’t finish my commitment with Fantastic Four and now I’ll be out of order during all this year after the surgery. DON’T FORGET ME, PLEASE!!!! I’LL BE BACK!! (Hope so).
Sadly, it is now apparent that the paralysis in his right leg was not due to a spinal injury, but the onset of ALS.
It is unclear what Pacheco's immediate plans are for his art career.
The thoughts and prayers of everyone at CBR go out to Carlos and his family.
Source: Twitter (re-posting Pacheco's original Facebook post)