Determined to get well: Robin is being cared for at home by wife Dwina.
With a wide, impish, welcoming smile, Robin Gibb was standing at the front porch of his magnificent 12th-century Oxfordshire home. He appeared thinner than before, but he explained that he’s never weighed more than 9½?st, so there was no reason to think that anything was wrong. It was only later that day, when he confided that he’d been to see a specialist about his recurring stomach cramps, that alarm bells rang. After an examination and a scan he had been told he’d got one hour to live unless he had immediate surgery.
“Hang on, I’ve only got cramp,” recalled Robin. ‘But he said I’d actually got an intestinal blockage and it could be about to burst”, he said.
He and his wife Dwina had decided not to say anything publicly to allow him to quietly undergo treatment. Only in October, after viewers were shocked by his gaunt appearance on Alan Titchmarsh’s ITV chat show, did the true extent of Robin’s illness emerge.
Then, earlier this month, he was rushed to hospital after a 999 call from his home. His 91-year-old mother Barbara and older brother Barry flew in from their Miami homes to be with him. Never far from their minds will be the sad loss of Robin’s twin brother Maurice, who died eight years ago from complications following the same medical emergency to unblock a twisted intestine.
This week Robin, 61, publicly thanked fans for their get-well messages. And he is determined to be well enough to hear his latest musical project performed next year. Working with his 28-year-old son R.J. (Robin-John), he has composed an impressive classical work entitled The Titanic Requiem, to commemorate the 100th anniversary next year of the sinking of the liner, and he plans to have it played at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April.
In the imposing surroundings of his home, a former monastery once visited by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, he said how he had fulfilled a long-held ambition. “I’ve always wanted to write a classical piece and I put it to my son that we should do it together because he’s got a great talent for music,” explained Robin.