Novak on the Mend; 'There Are Mad Bloggers Who Profess to Take Delight in My Distress'

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By Matt Haber

September 5, 2008 | 1:18 p.m

Feeling Fine: Novak

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In his most recent column, Robert Novak explains how hitting a pedestrian with his car made him realize that something was wrong with him, ultimately leading to the diagnosis of his brain tumor.

As Mr. Novak writes:

I did not realize I had hit anyone until a shirt-sleeved young man on a bicycle, whom I incorrectly thought to be a bicycle messenger, jumped in front of my car to block the way. In fact, he was David A. Bono, a partner in the high-end law firm Harkins Cunningham. The bicyclist was shouting at me that I could not just hit people and then drive away. That was the first I knew about the accident.

Mr. Novak goes on to write, "The person I hit, identified by police as Don, with no fixed address, was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where police said, 'There are no visible injuries.'" The man's full name is actually Don Clifford Liljenquist and he is 86 years old, according to The Washington Post's Paul Duggan.

Mr. Novak then tells of his diagnosis and treatment. He is now home in Washington, recovering and trying "to get back at least parts of my normal life."

"There are mad bloggers who profess to take delight in my distress," Mr. Novak writes. "but there's no need to pay them attention in the face of such an outpouring of good will for me. I had thought 51 years of rough-and-tumble journalism in Washington made me more enemies than friends, but my recent experience suggests the opposite may be the case."