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Life's Single Certainty

• Ian McTear
• 15 Nov 06, 04:16 PM

This weekend the first part of Radio Ulster's short series about death - Life's Single Certainty - will be broadcast. As well as people here talking about their own experiences it will also have a unique first hand account of the final months of a woman dying from cancer.

The diary was the idea of producer Helen Toland who explains how she came up with it and what it was like working with a woman facing up to her own death.

Helen said it all started when she heard about a nurse here called Bob Brown who was writing a thesis about the conversations which people have before they die.

"I thought this was amazing. When they are dying some people open up to strangers and tell them things they would not tell their own families, while others just shut down.

"My idea was to find someone who would speak openly about this. Because Bob had gone to the hospices for his book he went with me to put the idea to them. They all said they would think about it - but the hospice in Newry said they knew someone straight away."

And that was how Helen got in touch with Gloria. She had been suffering from ovarian cancer for more than seven years.

"She wanted to promote the idea of people talking about death," said Helen. "Sofor nine months from November 2005 until her death last July she kept an audio diary.

"During that time I rang her every couple of months to see how she was. Whenever she felt like it she recorded whatever she was feeling, day or night."

Gloria died on the 31st of July and kept recording entries for her audio diary until the 18th of that month.

"Gloria was amazing - not only was she prepared to talk about how she was feeling but she was also eloquent as well.

"And it was not just a written diary - you are able to hear the voice of the woman who is keeping it. Gloria was just the most perfect person to do the job - it was as if it was meant to be."

Helen says that although Gloria was keen to get involved in the programme it was a bit more difficult for her family. But despite that they understood why Gloria wanted to do it.

" Her family have just heard the tapes which is very difficult for them but they are hoping that in the long term they will be glad she did it
"She was preparing for her death all the time. This was another way of doing this and this was her legacy."

You can hear Life's Single Certainty of the 18th and the 25th of November. Extract's from Gloria's diary will be broadcast from Monday to Friday of that week.

And a website connected to the series will be online from Saturday

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