WESTERN MAIL 19/07/08
19th July 2008
Singer Shân Cothi is launching a charity in memory of her husband, Justin Smith, who died of cancer. She tells Karen Price about her plans to raise money with a mammoth horse trek
ON the sideboard in Shân Cothi's dining room is a beautiful black and white photograph of the singer and her husband Justin Smith smiling broadly for the cameras.
But their smiles hid the devastating fact that after months of tests, Justin had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Despite a brave fight, the television director and bassist with Welsh glam metal band Tigertailz died in September 2007, just months after the photograph was taken and just weeks after marrying his long-term partner Shân at his hospital bedside.
Now Shân, an opera singer and actress, has founded a charity in her husband's name in a bid to raise the profile of pancreatic cancer - diagnosis is difficult and only 5% of sufferers survive five years.
She also hopes the charity - Amser Justin Time - will provide support to patients and their families.
Shân will officially launch the charity on August Bank Holiday Monday, a day after her performance at Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival, when she and a small group of friends will set off on a fundraising horse ride from North to South Wales.
While at first Shân felt it would be too painful to set up a charity, one of Justin's close friends, Emyr Glasnant Young, was keen to pay tribute to him and Shân later felt it was the right time to do just that.
"Justin would think I was absolutely mad," smiles Shân when I meet her at her Cardiff home.
"But he would be very moved. He was a very emotional, sensitive guy. He would say, ‘Anything that makes you happy Shân'."
A website has been set up by the charity and Shân has recorded a single, I Believe, with her close friend, international bass baritone Terfel - which they hope to sing at the Faenol Festival.
I Believe, which will be available for download from the charity's website, was written by Justin and recorded by Tigertailz. Justin, whose rock band name was Pepsi Tate, can be heard playing bass guitar on the new track.
Shân, who plays the leading role in S4C's Con Passionate, met Justin about 10 years ago in the offices of TV production company Avanti when she was recording the Shân Cothi Show for S4C and he was editing.
They soon became a couple and settled down to life together in Cardiff.
In 2006, Justin began experiencing abdominal pains and later began losing weight.
But it took months of tests before a diagnosis was made.
"The doctor said, ‘I have got something really serious to tell you' and our hearts just stopped," says Shân, who is originally from the village of Ffarmers, near Lampeter.
"Looking back now there were signs, especially as Justin had pancreatitis when he was in his 20s. He didn't react well to chemotherapy but kept going and even did a gig in Milan with Tigertailz."
Although he was very weak, in July 2007 the couple travelled to New York in a last-ditch attempt to find alternative treatment. Justin proposed to his girlfriend during their trip.
"We had planned to get married but we were on a horse-and-cart ride and were passing Madison Square when he got out and got down on bended knee. There was a fantastic storm - Justin loved storms."
Not long after they returned to Wales, Justin was admitted to Holme Tower hospice in Penarth, where the pair were married in front of close family and friends.
"Justin was very ill that day but he got better for a few days afterwards. He was very proud, telling everyone he had made an honest woman of me," she smiles.
Following Justin's death at the age of 42, Shân, a blacksmith's daughter, immersed herself in horse-riding and bought a horse, Caio, which is kept in stables in Ogmore.
"He has been a godsend really," she says of the horse. "It's very therapeutic to go riding. After the funeral I would go to the beach on the horse and talk to Justin."
Now Shân and Caio, along with a number of other riders, will make the trek of almost 300 miles from North to South Wales. Emyr will be joining on foot.
There will also be a number of fundraising concerts en-route, including Pavilion Bont in Pontrhydfendigaid on September 4, featuring Rebecca Evans and Rhys Meirion. There will also be a gig at The Point in Cardiff on September 18.
Shân is touched by all of the cards and letters she has received since the death of Justin, who was originally from Dinas Powys.
"They're so comforting," she says.
While Shân - who appeared in The Phantom of the Opera in the West End - is every inch the professional, she admits that since Justin's diagnosis, her work is not so important to her.
"I miss him like crazy and when something like this happens it changes your perspective on things," she says.
"But Justin would hate it if I didn't sing any more."
For full details on the charity, visit the website
