November 2003 Interview: Martyn Bennett (5)

THE NEWFOUNDLAND community in which he grew up was Gaelic-speaking, but he feels that he needs to go back and “learn to speak Gaelic properly again”. He has opted to discontinue conventional medical treatments for his cancer, and feels liberated by that decision, whatever the outcome.

“I’ve extricated myself from the system now,” he confirmed, “and I’m not having any more treatments. I still have pain every day, but I don’t believe cancer is a death sentence, I think you can live with it, and perhaps the hardest part of that is coming to terms with dying. For a long time I felt that death was knocking on the door every day, and the pain you suffer brings a coldness into your life, but you learn to live with it.

“I’ve been through a lot of chemotherapy and so forth, and I don’t see much point in continuing with that. If I have a limited amount of time left, I’d rather use it and just get on with things. I’ve felt better since I made that decision, more liberated. I have had to make a realisation about death, but in the end it’s no different for any of us, is it?

“I can’t tell my future, but I’m open to whatever comes now, and I want to make the most of it.”

Martyn Bennett’s Grit is out now on Real World.

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Sadly, Martyn lost his battle with cancer on Sunday 30 January 2005. Please click on the link below to read his obituary which was published in The Scotsman.

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