Dr Monica E. Taylor launches ‘My Juneplum Journey’

THE JUNE plum is naturally sour. Even when it is ripe, it has a tangy taste, sweet and sour, if you will. And we Jamaicans, perhaps, all have stories of this sour-but-sweet fruit, embedded in our memories.

But, retired University of the West Indies lecture, Dr Monica E. Taylor has been living her June plum story every day for the past several years, which she has chronicled in her book, My Juneplum Journey – Living with Multiple Myeloma, recently launched in St Andrew.

Dr Taylor has been fighting this scourge, one of the most aggressive types of cancers, and all that it contains. And, thus, the book is about her “living with a diagnosis of multiple myeloma”, she said.

“The June plum is a metaphor for the vicissitudes of the myeloma journey beginning with a confluence of my wedding, exams and my father’s death in 1980,” Dr Taylor told The Gleaner through a post-event interview. “I survived the rigours of dialysis and through the grace of Jehovah Rapha, and diet, I have been off dialysis since December 2020. ”Her journey then is a Juneplum, sour, but also sweet.

“The book revolves around the negatives/troubles … challenges … along so many blessings she received … with a strong focus on the strength enabled by her faith,” Dr Caroline Dyche, one of her former University of the West Indies co-workers, who spoke at the launch, told The Gleaner.

Dr Dyche’s presentation was reflective in nature, centring on two large, interrelated concepts, time and change. Starting with the famous opening lines from the British poet, T S Eliot’s Four Quartets poem, “Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past”. She focused on changes today in literacy, language and technology, the interrelationship of these, and how to grapple with the ensuing anxiety and negative implications.

She referenced Dr Taylor’s book and its gems of wisdom that have sustained her during the abrupt change in life circumstances due to her multiple myeloma diagnosis. Focus was placed on Dr Taylor’s life of faith, and of the stillness and calmness she exuded, presented as being grounded in her experience of God’s protection and the assurance of his presence.

In pulling two quotes from the book that depicts the sweet-and-sour nature of her journey, Dr Taylor chose: “Godfrey (her husband) and I headed off to Tampa for the stem cell transplant floating on a cushion of prayers”, and “For a blissful while I thought my hair had been spared, but when I saw the first two despondent locks leaning on my pillow I knew it was time for the shave”.

It was a festive occasion at the launch, attended by her husband, her daughters (Dr Anna-Kay Taylor Christmas, Dr Suzanne Taylor and Jasmine Taylor), relatives, friends, associates and former co-workers. There were music, food (including some small June plums), meet-and-greets, book-signing, oral presentations from a niece, and Godfrey accompanied soloist Sandra Bramwell on keyboard in a well-received selection. Dr Taylor Christmas was the compere.

And, why a book? “It is hoped that persons with a challenging diagnosis will take comfort from my story ‘and charm their griefs to rest’ … As someone who spent a lot of my professional life teaching about the power of writing , I could not escape the urge to package my experience in a format that was not just accessible, but also durable.”

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the paperback book, available on Amazon, will go towards The Medical Grant Fund of the Jamaica Multiple Myeloma Support Group (JMMSG), a charity registered with the Companies Office of Jamaica in June 2017 although the group has been in existence since March of 2013.

“The main aim of JMMSG is to provide support for people living with or touched by multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the blood. The group also provides public information and builds awareness through special activities during March each year, which is Myeloma Awareness/Action Month,” the group says on its website.

“During this month we host activities and events that build awareness and share useful information about the disease for professionals, caregivers and myeloma patients. Our signature event is a medical symposium that we host every two years. Membership in the Group is open to anyone touched by myeloma. JMMSG is affiliated with the International Myeloma Foundation that provides a wealth of information on myeloma diagnosis and management.”