John’s still with me...he’ll have a seat at the play
Writer on channelling grief into stage show dedicated to husband whose life was claimed by silent killer
Playwright Isobel Barrett was inconsolable when she lost the love of her life but what made the tragedy doubly devastating was that she barely had any time to say goodbye.
Her husband, John, didn’t drink or smoke but his life was cruelly taken just three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, becoming yet another victim of the so-called silent killer.
Now, determined to raise awareness of the disease’s notoriously low survival rate, she is reaching out to people the same way she has always done – through the arts, with a new play, The Islets Of Silence (The
C Word), drawing on her family’s experiences.
Isobel said: “All around the world, people are dying of this cancer. There’s so much work to be done and I want to do as much as I can.”
John had been feeling unwell for some time.
He’d had a slight heart condition and polymyalgia, an inflammatory disease which causes pain and stiffness in the muscles around the shoulders, neck and hips.
“Looking back, he had some of the symptoms such as backache, fatigue and he’d stopped eating, but he didn’t get jaundice, not everyone does,” said Isobel.
For two years or so, John had been visiting his doctor as he had been losing weight and was low in energy.
He was 76 when the cancer was discovered. Isobel said: “When they said it was inoperable, he asked how long? They said weeks, and he took it on the chin.”
Isobel’s play centres around an everyday family, as they deal with familiar, everyday issues: school, work, hopes and dreams. But the Gourlays’ world is flipped upside down when someone close receives a devastating diagnosis.
Despite such a tough subject matter, The Islets Of Silence (The C Word) manages to be heart-warming and full of humour.
Isobel said: “The arts can deliver a powerful message. I did not know a lot about pancreatic cancer until my husband died of this silent killer.
“I associated it with heavy drinkers because I thought it was to do with the liver. But John wasn’t a drinker or smoker. He was a very strong man – that’s why I married him. He was a wonderful cook with a good diet.”
Long established as the cancer with the lowest survival rate, there is no standard screening test or early detection method, although research is ongoing.
Around 800 people in Scotland every year are diagnosed with the disease, with a predicted increase