Editing Flannery O'Connor (section)

===Illness and death===
[[File:Andalusia (farmhouse); Milledgeville, Georgia; January 29, 2011.jpg|thumb|left|Andalusia Farm, where O'Connor lived from 1952 until her 1964 death]]

By the summer of 1952, O'Connor was diagnosed with [[systemic lupus erythematosus]] (lupus),{{sfn|O'Connor |1979 |p=40 |ps=&nbsp;(letter to Sally Fitzgerald, undated, summer 1952)}} as her father had been before her.{{sfn|Giannone|2012|p=23}} She remained at [[Andalusia (Milledgeville, Georgia)|Andalusia]] for the rest of her life.{{r|Gordon}} O'Connor lived for twelve years after her diagnosis, which was seven years longer than expected.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Her daily routine was to attend Mass, write in the morning, then, spend the rest of the day recuperating and reading. Despite the debilitating effects of the steroid drugs used to treat O'Connor's lupus, she nonetheless made over sixty appearances at lectures to read her works.{{r|Gordon}} In the PBS documentary ''[[Flannery (film)|Flannery]]'', the writer [[Alice McDermott]] explains the impact lupus had on O'Connor's work, saying, "It was the illness, I think, which made her the writer she is".<ref>{{Citation|title=American Masters {{!}} Flannery {{!}} Season 35|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/flannery-mxhspu/|language=en|access-date=2021-06-16}}</ref> 

O'Connor completed more than two dozen short stories and two novels while living with lupus. "The wolf, I'm afraid, is inside tearing up the place", she wrote to her friend Sister [[Mariella Gable]] just few weeks before her death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Happy Hundredth Birthday, Flannery O'Connor! |url= https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/03/25/happy-hundredth-birthday-flannery-oconnor/ |last=Quatro |first=Jamie |author-link=Jamie Quatro |website=[[The Paris Review]] |access-date=28 March 2025 |date=25 March 2025}}</ref> She died on August 3, 1964 at the age of 39 in Baldwin County Hospital.{{r|Gordon}} Her death was caused by complications from a new attack of lupus, following surgery for a [[uterine fibroid]].{{r|Gordon}} She is buried in Milledgeville, Georgia,{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1965|p=viii}} at [[Memory Hill Cemetery]].