http://www.newsday.com/iphone/ny-etjackson1222,0,4929942.story
Michael Jackson is ailing from a rare lung condition and needs to undergo a transplant, according to the author of a new biography on the King of Pop.
Author Ian Halperin said Jackson, 50, suffers from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a condition that can be fatal.
" 'He's had it for years, but it's gotten worse,'" Halperin said in an interview In Touch magazine. `"He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It's the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.'"
Halperin also said Jackson "can barely speak'" and is having trouble seeing: "The vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone.'"
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Jackson is rarely seen in public. A few weeks ago, he was photographed in Los Angeles, wearing a Zorro-style mask.
His brother Jermaine Jackson told television channel FOX News: 'He is not well.'[/FONT]
Michael Jackson is ailing from a rare lung condition and needs to undergo a transplant, according to the author of a new biography on the King of Pop.
Author Ian Halperin said Jackson, 50, suffers from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a condition that can be fatal.
" 'He's had it for years, but it's gotten worse,'" Halperin said in an interview In Touch magazine. `"He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It's the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.'"
Halperin also said Jackson "can barely speak'" and is having trouble seeing: "The vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone.'"
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Jackson is rarely seen in public. A few weeks ago, he was photographed in Los Angeles, wearing a Zorro-style mask.
His brother Jermaine Jackson told television channel FOX News: 'He is not well.'[/FONT]
