An Obituary of a Character

This Creative Writing piece on a character's Obituary tells us a bit more about the character and possible idea for a story. Please see the hand out given at the end of the Character Building presentation by Sheila Gumpright on 20th September 2012. 

            

Robin Wright’s Last Rite at 58

Harrow, Greater London   21 Sept. 2012.

The ‘Cancer Guru’ Robin Wright, died in Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, aged 58, had his last rite in Ruislip Crematorium near his birth place with the fire lit by his son in Hindu ritual.

Affectionately called by the medical world as the ‘Cancer Guru’, Robin Wright went to Oxford to study medicine after his father died of cancer at the age of 50. Born in Pinner Village in Greater London to devoted Irish Catholic parents, Robin,as a school boy showed his talent by becoming the youngest Head Boy, football captain, the lead musician/singer and school representative for charitable activities. A mild-mannered, easy going and only child of the family, young Wright won everyone’s hearts at Nowerhill High School and in the local community except one 14-year old Muslim girl in his class who was not allowed to reciprocate the affection of a Kafir [non-Muslim] boy. He was completely devastated when that girl got engaged to her first cousin and went to Pakistan to complete the traditional Muslim marriage ceremony.

Heart-broken, lost and depressed young-boy Wright could not see the meaning of life any more. So one late Sunday afternoon in that summer he broke open his mum’s cash box and picked up his dad’s purse, grabbed all the money he could and left for India without telling anything to anyone. He knew and liked India as he visited the country with his school friend, Barnab, who has their ancestral home in a holy place called, Benaras. The story goes that while in India, young-boy Wright shaved his head, went to the Hare Krishna Consciousness Centre and following his hero Beatles, George Harrison, converted to Hinduism [hence Hindu cremation, as he wished, like his hero Beatles, George Harrison].

 

As if the teen-age love-lost heartache wasn’t enough, back in Harrow and at St Dominic’s Six Form College, Wright got his biggest blow of his life when his beloved father passed away with colon cancer at the age of 50. His father’s death completely destroyed teenage Wright, he was completely lost. He decided to pack up his studies and to go back to India for spiritual solitude. Fortunately, the College Principal, Father Gregory, persuaded Wright to continue with his studies and encouraged him to study medicine. As a determined and bloody-minded individual, Wright promised to himself to become a cancer specialist and fight the cancer that killed his dear father.

That seed of determination was sown at the University when bright young Wright secured a handsome scholarship to study medicine at Oxford Medical College. Wright always had extraordinary determination to achieve any set goals and with this bloody-mindedness that he completed his medical science degree with distinction/gold medal. And it was there at Oxford that Wright met his match, his classmate, his dream love and future wife, Rupali, coincidentally, from India. They got married in 1985 with a lavish and colourful Indian-style wedding ceremony in an old Maharaja’s palace that lasted three long days and nights.

Life wasn’t always colourful and happy for Wright as his once loving and now lonely widowed mother was wooed away  and coerced into marrying a Middle-eastern business man who already had a harem of wives. And once out of the country Wright never heard from her beloved mother again and that pain of loss remained with him forever as he mentioned this many a times to his large number of friends in many parts of the world. One thing, however, had always been in the forefront of his mind and heart was his dedication for the care of cancer sufferers and his determination to find a cure for cancer. This passionate positive mental attitude [or as he used to say PPMA]  led him onto the world of cancer research and travelling to and living in many different countries. Fortunately, this ‘wandering’ life-style didn't affect the family-man, Wright’s family-life as his wife, Rupali was also a world-famous gynaecologist who always joined him in his travel. And they didn't put their two children, one boy and one girl, to boarding schools in England, as they wanted to enjoy their growing-up in their presence. This arrangement worked very well for the family as they followed their own career/life aim while children were growing up in different cultures and educational/social systems [they were adamant that children became better citizens of the world rather than a shallow pond fish].

Wright’s contribution to finding a cure to cancer is ‘enormous and un-measurable’ say his colleagues and fellow professionals. He pioneered the early detection techniques and the analysis of cancerous tissues/cells before it becomes a cancerous lump/tumour. This revolutionary technique saved thousands of prospective cancer victims from dying a slow and painful death, the profession agree. But why is he not so well-known outside his profession and why hasn’t he got a Nobel Prize, one might wonder! Why indeed! Wright would not engage in such a conversation, but his colleagues had spoken for him. They said that Wright was a bloody-minded man and he consistently refused to leave his research duty [never called it a job] and work for any multinational money-making pharmaceutical companies. Thus Wright lost a lot of support from many rich and powerful prospective sponsors at very high places. No wonder Wright’s own achievement in finding a cure for cancer does not match with his low public profile outside his profession caused by the actions/inactions of a few greedy, rich and power-hungry individuals in this world. As Wright used to say, it didn’t change his ‘tiny world of cancer cure and research’.

He is survived by his only wife, Rupali 55, son 25, a doctor and daughter 23, a medical student.

‘Cancer Guru’ Robin James Wright, born April 01 1953, Harrow, Greater London died  20 September 2012, Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.

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