Achi news desk-
What has come could be seen as an unlikely turn for a respected literary critic and leading academic from the University of Glasgow who specializes in Renaissance Studies up on the city’s Gilmorehill.
Professor Maley’s latest paper owes more to Missy Elliott and Eminem than Marlowe and Milton. And it may well be the most important piece he ever wrote.
“In December last year I had a chemotherapy session canceled due to staff shortages at the Beatson,” said Maley. “It was debilitating because I was on Triplet Therapy, three different drugs that had to be taken together; life saving intervention. My chemo was not curative, it was palliative. I was buying time, and I was already starting late because I had covid and there was a problem with the availability of the drugs.
“My momentum had been good but I really went down after that. Part of my treatment is androgen deprivation therapy, which destroys the male sex hormone and removes the sheet of muscle in the abdomen. In the end, I had a hernia, which meant I couldn’t do any of the weight training they advise to prevent the risk of osteoporosis and broken bones, which is also a side effect of the treatment.
“This is the first time I’ve come down since my diagnosis in July. So I wrote a rap about it, in anger. It all came out in about 40 minutes.”
What came out is Chemotherapy, a portmanteau that breaks down his equally defiant dual identities as a cancer patient and a boy from Possilpark. Eleven verses, from symptoms to diagnosis, prognosis and dreams; eight months neatly wrapped – and rapped – in 44 lines of rhyme.
A walk with his niece Norma earlier this spring led to the writer-turned-performer MCing his piece at Kelvinbridge train station, where he began a social media journey.
“I belted the whole thing out to her and she immediately said, ‘You record this, and it goes on TikTok’. So she took me to Kelvinbridge which has a graffiti wall to record a video of it. I’m a bit short of breath with the cancer, but I gave as much as I could.
“I’m a big fan of the form,” says Maley, who earned his doctorate at Cambridge University, going on to posts at Glasgow University where he was made a professor in 1999.
“Seamus Heaney said that Eminem sent voltage through a generation. And that was before he listened to Kneecap, I’m a big fan of him.
“I gave a lecture 20 years ago called Wastelands Under Construction: The American Lyric by TS Eliot to Missy Elliott. I love performance poetry and spoken word and it just felt right. Also, I can’t sing, so rap felt like a good way to go.”
Maley was diagnosed with advanced metastatic prostate cancer last summer after 16 months of symptoms.
“I had months of a mysterious illness,” he said. “Intercostal pain between my ribs, inflammation in my back, terrible pain between my hip and shoulder on my right side. I saw physiotherapists and osteopaths, and in the end what I got was prostate cancer wreaking havoc up my right side which the scan showed.”
A PSA test, which measures the amount of a specific antigen in the bloodstream, was carried out early in the morning on July 11 last year. At 5pm the doctor rang with the devastating news.
“He said he was sorry to tell me on the phone but that I had cancer and I was going straight to hospital. One minute I was sitting listening to Oscar Peterson with my step-grandson, then I was in an ambulance being told to lie flat because they thought it had gone into my spine.
“I had a PSA result of 300. A PSA of four is problematic. I was in hospital at 6pm, I got a bed at 2am on the ninth floor. After Googling the situation, I tried the windows. ”
Mercifully, he could not open them. Similarly, the progression of his cancer, although intractable, did not involve the spine.
He said: “The problem with my spine was an old fracture and not a collapsed vertebra. It was a bit like being told that someone is going to kill you at school, then they find you at the school gates and just boo you up the arse. I felt fortunate to have received a potentially serious spinal diagnosis. The good news was that it was only on the spine, not in it.”
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This grammatical tone had a great influence on Maley’s outlook and personal attitude. He has posted his notice to retire from the university position he has held for 30 years, and has applied his skills of academic rigor to researching chemotherapy and cancer.
He said: “There’s something called the Gleason score for prostate cancer, which goes from one to 10, and I’m a 10. It’s metastatic cancer, and when it comes to cancer the m-word is more serious than the c-word. If it’s out in the box and in the bones, as I say in the rap, then that’s a problem.”
Maley hopes that Skemotherapy will reach other men and encourage them to become more aware of changes in their bodies.
“Biology, anatomy and pharmacy are things that people are completely ignorant about, men in particular,” he said. “Men in Scotland are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as men in London. There are many complex reasons for this including diet, mortality, avoidance, geography and transport. But there is also ignorance. Many men know nothing about their bodies. Women grow up much more aware of their bodies than men. I was diagnosed at 62, a professor at a leading institute for cancer research, and I literally didn’t know my ass from my elbow.”
The professor applauds public information campaigns such as last year’s Early Bird public awareness campaign by NHS Scotland and the government but feels the Scottish government could be doing more.
“The union must be bad for us if the people of Scotland are more likely to die of cancer than the people of England. But the Scottish Government should look at their priorities and ask themselves if they are actually tending to one of their most vulnerable marginalized communities, namely people with cancer. There is a lot of catching up to do.
“ A former student was with a doctor in Belgium and was told he should be having an annual PSA check. He is 45. A screening program for prostate cancer would be welcomed in Scotland.”
READ MORE: Scotsman who read Mein Kampf, swims naked in lakes and refuses to do housework
In November, his friend, musician Bill Alexander from the band Possil Mor, launched a petition for the Scottish Government to introduce such a programme. It is still under consideration.
Maley has already brought change about himself encouraging friends to get checked. Since then one has had his prostate removed, two others are on watch lists.
“It’s too late for me, but I want others to be aware. If you’re prone to peeing more often, suffer from pain in your groin, tailbone, hip or legs, don’t think it’s just getting older. You have a right to old age and you have a right to feel healthy. Be seen to. As I say now, full spectrum on the rectum.”
After retirement, the Professor hopes to spend more time on Arran and in southern Spain, with his wife Dini, and their family and friends. There will be more football too.
“I haven’t been able to watch the World Cup Finals because I’ve been marking essays,” he said. “I gave up a ticket to the game when Celtic beat Rangers 5-1 because I had marked. My bucket list involves changing that. Family, friends and football.”
Maley’s demeanor, conversational energy and razor-sharp humor are not those of a man on a life sentence.
He said: “One of the laughs we had was when I rang Gartnavel and asked them when I was having my autopsy. They told me I wasn’t getting an autopsy. He insisted I had been told I was having an autopsy. I meant biopsy. I couldn’t stop saying it after that.
“My quality of life has been high. I’m eating better than I ever did, I’ve stopped drinking, I’m sleeping better than ever, and my stress is down to zero, because when you’re told you have advanced metastatic cancer the prostate, that changes your attitude to life.
“I see a lot more now I see my sunset and sunset and the leaves coming back on the trees. I absorb all of that. Every minute counts.”
To find out more about symptoms and prostate cancer visit: prostatecanceruk.org
CHEMOTHERAPY
By Willy Maley
For Shug Hanlan
Started
When I lost ten kilos
The doc asked
What’s the deal-oh
News was bad
With the diagnosis
It got worse
With the full prognosis
Found myself
Staring in the abyss
Staring back
It was a metastasis
It has taken root
Down in my stones
Now it’s out of the box
And in my bones
No confiscation
No last ditch hero
The cards are dealt
This is endgame zero
Doc has a plan
Start with chemo
He is a pioneer
Call him El Supremo
Business as usual
That’s my MO
This disease
Didn’t get the memo
Can’t stand crowds
Can’t go on demo
One shot left
Finding Nemo
You will be boarding soon
Long black limo
If I don’t get this poison
Out of my hemo
Can’t do this alone
I need a team-o
There is no cure
But a boy can dream-oh.
You have to dream
Gotta plan
Gotta keep going…
