Wilko Johnson (Ilyn Payne) on His Amazing Comeback From Death’s Door
Some of you only know him as that guy who played the guy who chopped off Ned Stark’s head. Others of you know him as both an accomplished musician and former Game of Thrones actor…but if you ask me, I know him as Wilko Johnson, Survivor.
In 2013, Johnson, who portrayed the King’s Justice Ser Ilyn Payne on seasons one and two of Game of Thrones, announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Instead of giving up hope of survival and waiting for death to take him, Wilko make the decision to live out what he thought would be his last days doing what he loved most: performing his special brand of Punk Rock on stage in a farewell tour.
The Guardian sat down with Johnson and asked him what his life was like after receiving that initial diagnosis, and how he came to his decision to live life to the fullest within a drastically reduced time frame:
"I didn’t plan to feel that way about death, that’s the way it got me. One of the ways I dealt with it was to absolutely accept it, and think: ‘Right, they’ve told me this thing is inoperable – if I’ve got 10 months to live, I just want to do it, I don’t want to spend 10 months running around after second opinions or false hopes."
As someone who watched my 30-year-old brother die from cancer that had spread to his brain, I felt connected to Johnson’s story. I watched my heroic brother do the exact same thing as Johnson did, and all I wanted was for him to have his wish fulfilled. I think it was the death sentence that usually comes with pancreatic cancer that lead me to believe, much like Johnson himself, that there would be no coming back from this.
Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey live in London in February 2014. Photograph: Brian Rasic/Rex
Fast forward to 2015, and Johnson is completely cancer-free. And it happened in the most intriguing yet appropriate way. A fan of Johnson’s music who happened to be a doctor saw him playing the Cornbury Music Festival at The Great Tew Estate in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, and wondered to himself why Johnson wasn’t dead or too ill to perform.
The fan referred Johnson to an oncologist at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, where doctor Emmanuel Huguet announced the cancer was operable. Still, there was only a 15% chance that Johnson would actually survive the operation, but after nine hours of surgery, a tumor described as “the size of a baby” was removed, along with his pancreas, spleen, and part of his stomach and intestines. Even then, Wilko Johnson wasn’t out of the woods, as he contracted secondary infections described as “very painful.” Finally, in October of 2014, Johnson’s doctors announced that he was cancer-free.
Now, Wilko Johnson is able to live his life…or to continue the path he started in 2013. He does say that being cancer-free has brought on some other issues. Johnson’s wife passed away roughly 11 years ago, and he’s waged a life-long battle with depression. He’s still got a quite a long way to go.
"I’ve started grieving for my wife, Irene, again. It’s 10 years, nearly 11 since she died, and I never, ever got over her. I just … ” [He lets out a huge sigh.] “I’m still in love with her. And it hurts now, to think of her."
Johnson says that the depression had evaporated when he got his terminal diagnosis. Perhaps it was the fact that he was at total peace with his fate that defeated the depression, but now that he has a new lease on life, he has to face those issues.
The good news is that Wilko Johnson is cancer-free and still making music. Whether he will ever return to Game of Thrones as the mute executioner remains to be seen. However, if there is any room at all for him in Season 6, then I hope we see his bald pate and scowling visage once again.
Next: George R.R. Martin meeting with his editors and publishers in August