The first sign of David Talbot’s stroke came at dinner with friends, where the wine was flowing and the mood was celebratory. He described it as the lights dimming momentarily in his brain. The moment passed, and it would be more than a day before he would end up in the hospital, facing the possibility of death. The stroke attacked his ability to swallow, care for himself, and devastatingly, to speak and write. Talbot, after all, is a bestselling author, a journalist and the founder of the news site Salon. With intensive work, help from others and patience, he recovered — though he still experiences lingering effects — and this year released a book about the experience, “Between Heaven and Hell: The Story of my Stroke.”
Talbot will be speaking at an Institute on Aging event Monday, Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
“Anyone who’s disabled in some way, I hope they take some kind of encouragement and inspiration from my book. Because that’s why I wrote it. I wrote it to say, I got through this, I am getting through this. I have lingering issues. I can’t see straight, I have to wear special glasses, I’m permanently dizzy, I have to walk outside with a cane, I can’t drive. I’m not the man I once was. And at 69 pushing 70 it makes you very aware of your fragility. And I’m also very aware now, in a deeper way, of other people’s fragility.”
— David Talbot
A segment from our radio show and podcast, “Civic.” Listen at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 102.5 FM in San Francisco, or online at ksfp.fm, and subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify or Stitcher.
