7.03.1962
I am 18 years old. I finished my first year at Oxford University. At school I am a part of the rowing team I also love dancing. When I was first starting Oxford University my aim was to start studying Mathematics but my father always wanted me to study medicine. Mathematics was not available at the time so I started studying Physics instead. I was always interested in mathematics, science and the sky. I was never an exceptional student I was always a bright one. At my first year at St. Albans School, I was third from the bottom of my class. I never told you about my family. I am the biggest son of my parents. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My mother and father are also Oxford graduates. Soon I hope I will be one too.
10.06.1962
I will be graduated in a few days. I think my next plan is to go to Cambridge University for a PhD. I am very excited for my graduation. All of my family will be there to support me. My mother and my father are very proud of me. Since they were both Oxford graduates, they always wanted me to be an Oxford graduate and be successful graduate at the same time. I want my graduation day to come soon as possible. My teachers told me that I will probably graduate with honors. Isn’t it amazing? But I must admit that I am kind of bored of this school. I want to graduate immediately and move on with my life. Only a few days left…
25.10.1963
I started my PhD one week ago in Cambridge University. It is on Cosmology. There is no one working in the area currently in Oxford. So that is the reason why I am in Cambridge for my PhD. My supervisor is Denis Sciama, although I hoped to work with Fred Hoyle who is working in Cambridge. Everything is going good for now. I actually enjoy what I am doing. I think I choose the right thing to do. I do not regret not listening to my father about studying medicine. I am so glad of my decision. We will be surer as time passes by. But I am confident I almost know that I made the right decision.
06.05.1963
A few days ago I learned that I only have 2 or 2.5 years to live. It seems like a joke. I have so much more to show, teach and figure out. But unfortunately I don’t have the time. I knew that something was wrong with me but I did not tell anyone about it. But lately I was always tripping and falling. I always kept the symptoms to myself until my father started recognizing them. After he noticed he took me to see a doctor. They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X-rays, as they tilted the bed," he once said. "After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical case. Later on I learned that I was in the early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. So know I don’t know what to do. I think I will move on like nothing is changed but that will be impossible. Slowly I will lose my ability to walk to move to speak. But I will act like everything is great.
22.07.1965
Today I am getting married. I know it may sound surprising because before I never told you about Jane Wilde. I love her. She wanted to marry with me even though I am sick. I only have 2 years to live, less then 2 years now, but she wants to get married with me. She is beautiful, smart, kind. She is everything I ever wanted. I think she also loves me. I am sure that we are going to be happy. At least happy until my situation gets worse. But I do not care I will try to do everything that I can to be happy until the day I die. I don’t want to regret the things I did not have the chance to do. Any ways, I am very excited and happy today. Can you believe it! I am getting married…
12.03.1965
I think before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life, but now I know what I should do. Nothing seemed to be anything worth doing but know I know what I should do. I will work hard and do everything that I should and can do. Now I will not just get a PhD I will also concentrate on my research. Marriage is going good just so you know. I really love her. But these days I started having little problems walking and moving my hands. We knew these days would come. But to tell the truth it came before than I expected.
15.07.1967
Today I officially lost my ability to walk. I am having a hard time admitting it. I was having a hard time walking but from now on I have to use a wheelchair. I am just 26 not 86. A few years before if someone told me that I would lost my ability to walk I wouldn’t believe them. As I lose the control of my muscles life gets harder for Jane and me. Now she carries me all over the place. I know she is not very happy. It is hard for her. I know she is scared, she is trying to run away from my death and the day I lose the control of every single muscle in my body. I wonder if I will live that long to see the day I lose control of every muscle I have. Anyways I don’t think I will get use to this wheelchair any time soon. I guess I have to.
09.07.1968
Today Jane gave birth to a little baby. I know its hard to believe but he is my baby. I already love him. He is the cutest baby I ever saw. I know life will be harder but I feel like we are a real family now. I want his name to be Robert. Jane also liked the name. But I couldn’t help myself to stop thinking about how hard life will get for Jane. Jane looks happy but inside she is also scared but she tries to hide it. Other than that I am very happy. We will be a very interesting family.
23.09.1974
I am continuing on my research about black holes. My black holes research turned me to a celebrity within scientific world. It started when I showed that black holes aren't the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were. In simple terms, I demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. First nobody accepted my theory. Nobody trusted me. But now everybody is crazy about it. I already won some awards and I guess there will be more. Also with Lucy and Robert growing up, everything is going great.
03.08.1985
Everything was going great. Until today I lost my ability to speak totally. What will I do? How can anybody live without speaking? Speaking is the most important part of communicating with other. I knew that this they will come from the right being but I was never able to get used to this idea of losing the ability to speak. My friends are working on a device that will enable me to write onto a computer with small movements of my body, and then to speak what I had written using a voice synthesizer. I hope they can do it. I need it as soon as possible.
17.10.1988
The system is working great but the voice that reads what I write reads it like American English but my accent is British English. That is my only problem with the device. I wrote a book with this system. The book is called A Brief History of Time. In my book I explained the universe and how the universe created, how everything started. I explained the beginning of time. Of coarse I also explained my theories about black holes. I hope that it will be a famous sciences book, maybe even a best seller. Everybody is proud of my work. My family is always next to me and I am so lucky to have them.
27.12.1990
Yesterday I decided to read all of the journals I wrote. When I wrote my first journal I was just 18 years old. It is unbelievable how everything changed. I got older but not physically also mentally. Doctors told me that I only had 2 years to live. Knowing that never discouraged me. On the contrary it helped me to work more. Now I clearly know that giving up is never a good idea because you can never know the future and how everything can change in a good way. When I first learned about my illness I never expected to have a family with 3 kids and be a famous scientist but now I am. So no matter what happens always follow your dreams never ever give up.
I am 18 years old. I finished my first year at Oxford University. At school I am a part of the rowing team I also love dancing. When I was first starting Oxford University my aim was to start studying Mathematics but my father always wanted me to study medicine. Mathematics was not available at the time so I started studying Physics instead. I was always interested in mathematics, science and the sky. I was never an exceptional student I was always a bright one. At my first year at St. Albans School, I was third from the bottom of my class. I never told you about my family. I am the biggest son of my parents. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My mother and father are also Oxford graduates. Soon I hope I will be one too.
10.06.1962
I will be graduated in a few days. I think my next plan is to go to Cambridge University for a PhD. I am very excited for my graduation. All of my family will be there to support me. My mother and my father are very proud of me. Since they were both Oxford graduates, they always wanted me to be an Oxford graduate and be successful graduate at the same time. I want my graduation day to come soon as possible. My teachers told me that I will probably graduate with honors. Isn’t it amazing? But I must admit that I am kind of bored of this school. I want to graduate immediately and move on with my life. Only a few days left…
25.10.1963
I started my PhD one week ago in Cambridge University. It is on Cosmology. There is no one working in the area currently in Oxford. So that is the reason why I am in Cambridge for my PhD. My supervisor is Denis Sciama, although I hoped to work with Fred Hoyle who is working in Cambridge. Everything is going good for now. I actually enjoy what I am doing. I think I choose the right thing to do. I do not regret not listening to my father about studying medicine. I am so glad of my decision. We will be surer as time passes by. But I am confident I almost know that I made the right decision.
06.05.1963
A few days ago I learned that I only have 2 or 2.5 years to live. It seems like a joke. I have so much more to show, teach and figure out. But unfortunately I don’t have the time. I knew that something was wrong with me but I did not tell anyone about it. But lately I was always tripping and falling. I always kept the symptoms to myself until my father started recognizing them. After he noticed he took me to see a doctor. They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X-rays, as they tilted the bed," he once said. "After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical case. Later on I learned that I was in the early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. So know I don’t know what to do. I think I will move on like nothing is changed but that will be impossible. Slowly I will lose my ability to walk to move to speak. But I will act like everything is great.
22.07.1965
Today I am getting married. I know it may sound surprising because before I never told you about Jane Wilde. I love her. She wanted to marry with me even though I am sick. I only have 2 years to live, less then 2 years now, but she wants to get married with me. She is beautiful, smart, kind. She is everything I ever wanted. I think she also loves me. I am sure that we are going to be happy. At least happy until my situation gets worse. But I do not care I will try to do everything that I can to be happy until the day I die. I don’t want to regret the things I did not have the chance to do. Any ways, I am very excited and happy today. Can you believe it! I am getting married…
12.03.1965
I think before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life, but now I know what I should do. Nothing seemed to be anything worth doing but know I know what I should do. I will work hard and do everything that I should and can do. Now I will not just get a PhD I will also concentrate on my research. Marriage is going good just so you know. I really love her. But these days I started having little problems walking and moving my hands. We knew these days would come. But to tell the truth it came before than I expected.
15.07.1967
Today I officially lost my ability to walk. I am having a hard time admitting it. I was having a hard time walking but from now on I have to use a wheelchair. I am just 26 not 86. A few years before if someone told me that I would lost my ability to walk I wouldn’t believe them. As I lose the control of my muscles life gets harder for Jane and me. Now she carries me all over the place. I know she is not very happy. It is hard for her. I know she is scared, she is trying to run away from my death and the day I lose the control of every single muscle in my body. I wonder if I will live that long to see the day I lose control of every muscle I have. Anyways I don’t think I will get use to this wheelchair any time soon. I guess I have to.
09.07.1968
Today Jane gave birth to a little baby. I know its hard to believe but he is my baby. I already love him. He is the cutest baby I ever saw. I know life will be harder but I feel like we are a real family now. I want his name to be Robert. Jane also liked the name. But I couldn’t help myself to stop thinking about how hard life will get for Jane. Jane looks happy but inside she is also scared but she tries to hide it. Other than that I am very happy. We will be a very interesting family.
23.09.1974
I am continuing on my research about black holes. My black holes research turned me to a celebrity within scientific world. It started when I showed that black holes aren't the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were. In simple terms, I demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. First nobody accepted my theory. Nobody trusted me. But now everybody is crazy about it. I already won some awards and I guess there will be more. Also with Lucy and Robert growing up, everything is going great.
03.08.1985
Everything was going great. Until today I lost my ability to speak totally. What will I do? How can anybody live without speaking? Speaking is the most important part of communicating with other. I knew that this they will come from the right being but I was never able to get used to this idea of losing the ability to speak. My friends are working on a device that will enable me to write onto a computer with small movements of my body, and then to speak what I had written using a voice synthesizer. I hope they can do it. I need it as soon as possible.
17.10.1988
The system is working great but the voice that reads what I write reads it like American English but my accent is British English. That is my only problem with the device. I wrote a book with this system. The book is called A Brief History of Time. In my book I explained the universe and how the universe created, how everything started. I explained the beginning of time. Of coarse I also explained my theories about black holes. I hope that it will be a famous sciences book, maybe even a best seller. Everybody is proud of my work. My family is always next to me and I am so lucky to have them.
27.12.1990
Yesterday I decided to read all of the journals I wrote. When I wrote my first journal I was just 18 years old. It is unbelievable how everything changed. I got older but not physically also mentally. Doctors told me that I only had 2 years to live. Knowing that never discouraged me. On the contrary it helped me to work more. Now I clearly know that giving up is never a good idea because you can never know the future and how everything can change in a good way. When I first learned about my illness I never expected to have a family with 3 kids and be a famous scientist but now I am. So no matter what happens always follow your dreams never ever give up.