Thor Heyerdahl 2002-04-20
Heyerdahl slips into deep sleep
OSLO, Wed. - Terminally ill explorer Thor Heyerdahl, whose 1947 Kon-Tiki expeditions captured the world's imagination, slipped into a deep sleep yesterday a week after he started refusing food, water or medical attention.
Doctors had given the 87-year-old Norwegian, recently diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, hours or at most days to live.
A week later, Heyerdahl, who made a career of challenging the views of the scientific mainstream, slipped into a deep, coma-like sleep but was still alive, his son said.
"He is so strong that he warned us that it could take a long time," Thor Heyerdahl Jr said.
"The doctor said he does not think he will ever open his eyes again," the son said by telephone from Lillehammer, Norway.
The scientist and adventurer wsa rushed to the Santa Corona hospital on the Italian Riviera nearly three weeks ago after becoming ill during a family gathering at Colla Michari, an ancient Italian village he bought and restored in the 1950s.
At his request, he was releasd from the hospital and brought back to his Colla Michari to spend his final days.
Experts scoffed at Heyerdahl when he set off to cross the Pacific aboard a balsa raft in 1947, saying it would get water logged and sink within days. - AP
