1. May 10, 2009
IT’S A BLOODY
AWFUL ENDING
45
TRUTH: Arthur Rafferty
TALKATIVE:
Beauty Isabel
Lucas, who stars
with Ethan
Hawke (above) in
Daybreakers,
found it hard to
keep plot details
to herself
Dying dock
man proved
right at last
By JOHN CASSIDY
A TOP UK asbestos
consultant has finally
confirmed what former deep sea docker
Arthur Rafferty has
always known – he
has the killer lung
disease.
Eight years after the 69year-old was first told he
was diagnosed with the
fatal condidtion, Arthur
recently travelled to
Liverpool for an “independent” consultation.
He made the trip after
the Belfast Trust last year
told him that he no longer
had asbestosis even though
he was diagnosed by the
Mater Hospital in 2001
with the condition.
Now in a letter to the
Belfast pensioner, Dr
Christopher Warbuton, one
of the UK’s four expert
consultants in asbestosis,
has told Arthur that he has
the fatal lung disease.
“From the point of view
of asbestos…it is my view
that this gentleman does
actually have pulmonary
fibrosis. It is my opinion
therefore that this
gentleman actually does
have asbestosis
“As far as Mr Rafferty’s other conditions are concerned,
he does have asbestos-related
pleural disease, this is pleural
plaque disease.
OMAGH MAN: Sam Neill
Sexy starlet
gives away
gory details
of bedevilled
vampire film
By JULIAN BROUWER
in New York
SEXY Aussie starlet
Isabel Lucas may have
driven a stake through
the heart of Sam Neill’s
new vampire movie – by
accidentally
giving
away the plot.
View
Fans were looking forward to watching Omaghborn Neill appear in gory
bloodfest Daybreakers, his
first horror movie since his
evil role as Damien in the
Omen.
But an excitable Isabel, who
plays Sam’s daughter in
Daybreakers, inadvertently
blabbed the major storyline of
the film – that her character
Alison Bromley has to kill him
because he has turned into a
bloodsucker.
The actress first won hearts as
sassy Tasha Andrews in Aussie
telly soap Home & Away.
“My
first
audition
for
Daybreakers was the worst I have
ever done, ever. It was quite an
extreme scene of going from crying to brutally stabbing her
father,” she said.
In the movie, Isabel, 24, plays
the last surviving human in a
future world in which a plague
has turned nearly everyone into
vampires.
The flick, set in the year 2017,
has already been bedevilled with
delays and its release has been
pushed back until next January.
Gaffe
Now Isabel’s gaffe could mean
that key scenes may have to be
re-shot, just to keep enough surprises in store for horror fans.
Other big name actors in the
cast are Ethan Hawke and
Willem Dafoe.
Hawke’s character Edward is a
vampire researcher who works
with a covert band of vampires
seeking a blood substitute before
time runs out to save the human
race from extinction.
However, while Edward wants to
become human again, his evil
brother (Dafoe) loves being a vampire and is determined to capture
and farm the last humans.
Meanwhile, Sam, 61, won’t be
too fussed if the release of
Daybreakers is delayed a bit
longer – not only does the busy
Jurassic Park actor have a bunch
of new movies lined up, he also
runs his own wine vineyard in
New Zealand.
Despite his heavy workload
family man Sam insists he will
never be as distant as his own
army dad Dermot who threw him
into boarding school and would
only see him for weeks at a time.
School
“My father would send me off
to boarding school and shake
hands with me at the railway station – and we wouldn’t see each
other for 3 months,” says Sam.
“I think I’m a bit more demonstrative with my children.”
Dermot, a strict army officer
disciplinarian who was educated
at posh public school Harrow
and then at Sandhurst, was stationed in Northern Ireland, serving with the Irish Guards.
He later moved the family to
New Zealand to run Neill and
Co. the country’s largest liquor
retailers.
Sensitive Sam – the middle
child in the family – was originally born “Nigel Neill” but was
teased so much by Kiwi kids following the move overseas that he
changed his name.
“Nigel was a little effete for
the rigours of a New Zealand
playground,” recalls Sam, who
also used to suffer from a stutter
as a boy.
“He has changes on CT
scan which in my view are
indicative of pulmonary
fibrosis and therefore
asbestosis in view of his
previous asbestos exposure.”
Mr Rafferty said he was
“relieved” to have been
finally told the true cause
of his shortness of breath.
“I am relieved in a way
that Dr Warburton has
finally got to the bottom of
my condition.
“I have now written to the
General Medical Council in
London and complained
about five doctors involved
in my case.
“I believe there has been
medical negligence and the
GMC are now investigating
my complaint.”
“Now that I have
received Dr Warburton’s
letter, I will be able to
pursue my action for
compensation against
George Heyn & Co.
“My union and my
employers knew about the
dangers of asbestos and
they never told me or my
colleagues.”
john.cassidy@nth.sundayworld.com
