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The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Launderette writer Hanif Kureishi has said he collapsed in Rome last month and now cannot move his arms or legs.

The Oscar-nominated scriptwriter and author said he thought he was dying after "a fall" on 26 December.

"I believed I had three breaths left. It seemed like a miserable and ignoble way to die," he said on Friday.

He is in hospital and has had a spine operation that has led to "minor improvements" in recent days, he said.

The 68-year-old said he collapsed after feeling dizzy following a walk.

"I woke up a few minutes later in a pool of blood, my neck in a grotesquely twisted position, my wife on her knees beside me," he explained in

'Unclear whether I will be able to walk again'

"I believed I was dying," he explained, but said his wife "saved my life and kept me calm".

"For a few days I was profoundly traumatised, altered and unrecognisable to myself. I am in the hospital. I cannot move move my arms and legs.

"I cannot scratch my nose, make a phone call or feed myself," he said. "As you can imagine, this is both humiliating, degrading and a burden for others."

He continued: "I have sensation and some movement in all my limbs, and I will begin physio and rehabilitation as soon as possible. I want to thank the doctors and nurses at the Gemelli hospital, Rome, for all their extraordinary kindness, competence and care.

"At the moment, it is unclear whether I will ever be able to walk again, or whether I'll ever be able to hold a pen, if there is any assistance that I would be grateful for, it would be with regard to voice-assisted hardware and software, which will allow me to watch, write and begin work again, and continue some kind of half-life."

He asked followers to send ideas that might help him.

"I want to thank all my readers for their love and support over the years. Love Hanif," he concluded.

Groundbreaking work

Kureishi's screenplay for the 1985 film My Beautiful Laundrette was nominated for both a Bafta and an Oscar and launched Sir Daniel Day-Lewis's acting career.

The movie was directed by Stephen Frears and described a relationship between a gay skinhead and a Pakistani-British boy.

Kureishi's first novel, The Buddha of Suburbia, was an international bestseller in 1990 and won the Whitbread book of the year award for a first novel.

The book was turned into a four-part television series by the ���˿��� in 1993, with David Bowie providing a song of the same name.

Kureishi also wrote the screenplays for Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and London Kills Me, which he also directed.

Other works include his drama The Mother, which told of a cross-generation relationship between a grandmother and a married handyman half her age. That also became a film, starring Anne Reid and Daniel Craig.

His 2006 screenplay Venus earned best actor nominations at the Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe awards for veteran actor Peter O'Toole.