[mark simon]

Hi

This is Mark Simon (Richard's son). My mom, sister and I just wanted to thank everyone for their nice comments and good wishes. They were GREAT to read last night at the end of two stressful days.

We were with him for most of the day yesterday and he is doing well and getting better by the minute (we spent a good amount of time breaking down the Mets report card ratings in yesterday's NY Daily News).

I imagine he will be back on these message boards very soon, as I've been told many times how much he likes participating in them.

One point of clarification that we did just want to note (in case any of you speak to him about his illness in the next few days) ... he had thyroid cancer surgery, not throat cancer surgery. The good news is that his voice is basically normal, though he was told to keep talking to a minimum for the next few days.

Thanks to everyone again.