Health
In August 2008 Attenborough entered hospital with heart problems and was fitted with a pacemaker. In December 2008 he suffered a fall at his home after a stroke, and was admitted to St George's Hospital in Tooting, southwest London. He went into a coma, but came out of it within a few days.
In November 2009 Attenborough, in what he called a 'house clearance' sale, sold part of his extensive art collection which included works by LS Lowry, Christopher Nevinson and Graham Sutherland, generating £4.6 million at Sotheby's. In January 2011 he sold his Rhubodach estate on the Isle of Bute, in Argyll, Scotland for £1.48 million.
In May 2011, David Attenborough revealed that his brother had been confined to a wheelchair since his stroke in 2008, but was still capable of holding a conversation. He added, however, that "he won't be making any more films."
Shortly before her 90th birthday, in June 2012 Sheila Sim entered the actors' home Denville Hall, for which she and Attenborough had helped raise funds. In July 2012 it was announced that Sim has been diagnosed with senile dementia.
In October 2012, it was announced that Attenborough was putting the family home, Beaver Lodge, which comes complete with a sound-proofed cinema in the garden, on the market for £11.5 million. David Attenborough stated "He and his wife both loved the house, but they now need full-time care. It simply isn’t practical to keep the house on any more."
In March 2013, in light of his deteriorating health, Richard Attenborough moved into Denville Hall to be with his wife, as confirmed by their son Michael.
Read more about this topic: Richard Attenborough
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“Our young people are diseased with the theological problems of original sin, origin of evil, predestination, and the like. These never presented a practical difficulty to any man,—never darkened across any man’s road, who did not go out of his way to seek them. These are the soul’s mumps, and measles, and whooping- coughs, and those who have not caught them cannot describe their health or prescribe a cure. A simple mind will not know these enemies.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The fact that the mental health establishment has equated separation with health, equated women’s morality with soft-heartedness, and placed mothers on the psychological hot seat has taken a toll on modern mothers.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“The sick man is taken away by the institution that takes charge not of the individual, but of his illness, an isolated object transformed or eliminated by technicians devoted to the defense of health the way others are attached to the defense of law and order or tidiness.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)