This news is not completely unexpected. I was thinking about Krauthammer the other day, who has had undisclosed but obviously serious health problems for almost a year, and wondering how he might be and when we might be hearing from him. Well, now he’s written a note:

“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,” the letter began. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.”

Krauthammer, who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975 despite a first-year diving accident that left him a quadriplegic, explained that he had a malignant tumor removed from his abdomen last August. Although a series of setbacks left him in the hospital in the ensuing months, he believed until recently that he was on the road to recovery.

“However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned,” Krauthammer wrote. “There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.”

Krauthammer added that he has no regrets, and that he’s had a wonderful life.

As a young man, Krauthammer experienced a blow that might have derailed his life. But he ultimately regrouped and made a life full of achievement, love, and friendship. Being a quadriplegic must have led to a host of huge problems and challenges, but Krauthammer seems to have met them all in spectacular fashion.

It’s a mystery how lives go, isn’t it? One person’s unrecoverable setback is another person’s small and temporary speed bump. I have very much missed Krauthammer’s mostly witty and insightful commentary, and I am very sorry that he’s facing what appears to be a terminal illness.