London ? Christopher Nolan, an Irish poet and novelist who refused to let cerebral palsy get in the way of his writing, has died. He was 43.

Nolan choked on a piece of food Friday at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, according to a statement from his family carried in the Irish media. The hospital confirmed his death Saturday.

“Christopher Nolan was a gifted writer who attained deserved success and acclaim throughout the world for his work,” Irish President Mary McAleese said in a statement, adding that his achievements were “all the more remarkable given his daily battle with cerebral palsy.”

Nolan’s brain was starved of oxygen during birth, leaving him unable to speak or control his arms or legs. He might have remained isolated from the outside world were it not for a drug, Lioresal, which restored some of his muscle function. His parents nurtured their partially paralyzed son’s literary talent.

Using a “unicorn stick” strapped to his forehead to tap the keys of a typewriter, Nolan laboriously wrote out messages and, eventually, poems and books as well.