Christopher Hitchens on the 'Stark Frontier' of Cancer

(Aug. 11) -- Only one month after announcing he'd be undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer, Christopher Hitchens is recounting his ordeal in a column for Vanity Fair.

The 61-year-old author, commentator and contributing editor at Vanity Fair first broke news of his cancer diagnosis on the magazine's website.

"I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus," he wrote in June, midway through a promotional tour for his memoir, "Hitch-22."

Since then, he's been largely mum on the details of his bout. But now, the normally bombastic writer is sharing some deeply personal stories -- from his initial diagnosis to his acquiescence to the chemo advised by his doctors.

"Nothing prepared me for the early morning last June when I came to consciousness feeling as if I were actually shackled to my own corpse," he writes, going on to describe summoning EMS workers who took him "from country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady."

In a recent interview with Jeffery Goldberg of the Atlantic, Hitchens, well known for his atheism, reveals that he encourages those who wish to pray for him on the assumption that it is for his recovery and not for him to be saved.

When asked if he had been swayed to prayer himself, Hitchens replied, "No, I can quite safely say that."

"It may be too early to ask me that," he added. "Because I have not had any terrifying moment yet and I know that, win or lose, I have some very grueling things to undergo where for chemical or narcotic reasons I won't be quite myself, so I don't know, but the answer is no."


Hitchens blames a "short-lived campaign of denial" for his persistence in continuing a sold-out promotional tour despite worsening symptoms.

And from Hitchens' own prose, it's clear his cancer -- and the ongoing treatment -- are taking a significant toll. He's lost 14 pounds and his hair, and he was informed that the disease had spread to his lymph nodes.

But, ever the atheist, Hitchens isn't looking up for answers.

"To the dumb question 'Why me?'" he writes, "the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?"