Jody White - Chimera: Living Through Leukaemia, A Memoir

Copyright Jody White, 2021

First published in Great Britain 2021

This edition published 2021 by Lumieres Press

www.lumierespress.com

Jody White has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author

To Know The Dark Wendell Berry. Used with permission

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: PB: 978-1-7399612-0-6;

eBook: 978-1-7399612-1-3;

Audiobook: 978-1-7399612-2-0

Typeset by Jody White

Also available as a Paperback and Audiobook

www.jodywhite.co.uk

For my family and for Tasha

I have come to understand the telling of this story, the tale of my life-threatening illness, as a way to explore my personal mythology. That can be translated as the defining moments of my life so far. The ones you might tell freely to those around you or the ones you keep to yourself, hidden away inside your heart. The concept is simple: key periods of life can become stories in and of themselves, separate from their protagonists, set free to exist on their own, if we are courageous enough to share them.

You are about to read the defining story of my life so far. It invokes the archetypal heros journey as seen through the extremely personal experience of acute disease. The crystallisation of wisdom can begin under the greatest of pressures. Through sharing our stories, especially those of challenge or difficulty, I believe it is possible that their leaden weight can be more deeply understood; their potential to transform us unlocked, as they undergo a final transmutation into pieces of pure gold. That is the work of true personal alchemy.

It is my wish that this book can help bring some form of hope to anyone dealing with a life-threatening diagnosis. I offer my thoughts to those recently diagnosed or currently undergoing any form of treatment, whether youre in or out of the hospital, GPs surgeries and specialist clinics whatever your prognosis. I would like to extend these sentiments to all the family and friends who, it is important to remember, intently feel the impact of such diagnoses upon their kin. Stay strong for yourself and for those around you, but know that there is no shame in crying, nothing wrong with really expressing and embodying your feelings, however negative you, or society, might deem them.

For those of you blessed to have never been in such a position, I would counsel you to cultivate a daily sense of gratitude for all you have, all that feeds your life, however small and simple those things appear to be. May you open your heart to the reality of those around you who are currently suffering, or who have suffered there are many of us around. It could be the elderly lady you sat next to on the bus to work this morning, the bright-eyed young man who made your coffee, or the rosy-cheeked child who giggled when you pulled a silly face at her in the street.

As you move through this book, you will come across the use of the Omega. This potent symbol is deeply intertwined with many fundamental aspects of human life, even down to its use denoting the year or date of a persons death.

Once known primarily as the 24th and last letter of the ancient Greek alphabet, today the Omega is utilised across a variety of different contexts and disciplines. You may have seen it appear in the company branding of a famous watch manufacturer, or as the logo of popular video game God of War.

Christianity also uses it, along with the first letter, Alpha. The Book of Revelation famously describes God as the Alpha and the Omega, generally translated as the beginning and end of all things. Therefore another way to think of it is as eternity: that place of dreamy timelessness that exists beyond the boundaries of life.

In astrology, there exist the lunar nodes, two points where the moon crosses the ecliptic whilst on its orbit around the Earth. There is an ascendant node and descendant node. The ascending node, commonly known as the North Node, is symbolised by the Omega. The South, or descending node, is the Omega inverted. It was used to predict eclipses, since they only occurred close to the nodes. It is also has a strong association with the twelfth and final sign of the Zodiac, Pisces.

As a counterbalance to its deep mythic and spiritual roots, the Omega is widely used by the sciences. In chemistry it represents the stable natural oxygen isotope, oxygen-18. In physics it is the ohm, a unit of electrical resistance, while in astronomy it represents the density of the universe. It is also used in the fields of mathematics, genomics, computer science and statistical mechanics.

In molecular biology, the symbol is used as shorthand to signify a genetic construct introduced by a two-point crossover: a recombination of differing genetic information to create new offspring.

Clearly, there exists time-honoured symbolism for the Omega to denote the ending of great cycles. A universal representation of death, destruction and change.

Prologue

What is a myth? Its a framework or a story drawn from aspects of the psyche or society. Because myths contain truths which we can all recognise, its human nature to project our own life experiences onto them. In doing so, we start to make sense of our lives and the things that have happened to us.

Thinking about our lifes journey in terms of myth and story helps us to understand the various roles we may have been playing, and can bestow a unique level of awareness to our patterns of behaviour. This in turn allows us to make conscious changes when we are able.

The heros journey is a famous mythic framework often applied to peak human experiences. This so-called monomyth (the myth of all myths), popularised by Joseph Campbells book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, details a core structure that has informed the plots of countless books, films, and legends throughout recent history. It goes a little something like this: the hero decides to embark upon a quest, faces a series of challenges along the way, yet ultimately returns to share the tale of his/her success with those they left behind. Its a classic trope.