Mother, Wife, Hero: The Woman Who Made Medical History and the Physician Who Dared to Save Her

Aug. 4, 2010 - PRLog -- “It’s an exciting time in MS research,” said Linda Lumsden, chair of the national board of directors for the MS Society, going on to say at the 2010 Multiple Sclerosis Society annual meeting that their funded studies will research Dr. P. Zamboni's radical treatment but not test it. It's a good thing that Dr. Khursheed N. Jeejeebhoy and his surgical colleague Dr. Bernard Langer were more excited about testing treatment than in perusing research about it, else Judy Taylor would have died at age 36 and her three young children would have become motherless. As today's Canadian MS patients put it, Judy did not have the luxury of time when she appeared on Jeejeebhoy's hospital ward with no bowels.

Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story by Toronto author Shireen Jeejeebhoy tells of Judy's heroic story. After a series of blood clots annihilated Judy's intestines, she was sent to Toronto General Hospital where Jeejeebhoy and Langer were working on feeding people artificially in the hospital for a short period of time. Because Jeejeebhoy believed in listening to his patients, in using all his abilities to solve their problems not to study them endlessly, in saving their lives and also giving them good quality of life, Judy lived. She became the first person to live at home on intravenous feeding – without eating any food whatsoever. Despite it being dangerous for her to swallow even so much as a crumb, she went on – for two decades – to cook for her family and friends and to encourage patients from Canada, to the US to Europe, and beyond, not to give up, to live a good life on TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition).

Her tenacity to live, in partnership with the ingenuity of physician/researcher Jeejeebhoy, resulted in the creation of Home TPN, an artificial feeding technique that keeps thousands of people alive and thriving today.

Because proper nutrition for the seriously ill is a continuing concern, the book has global interest. More than 45,000 patients in the US use TPN annually, and the technique is used in Europe to treat cancer patients. American studies show that cancer is the largest growing component of existing Home TPN programs, comprising up to 40 per cent of new admissions per year. Many patients with cancer and AIDS ultimately die of malnutrition; yet good nutrition leads to more effective medication therapy.

Taylor’s doctor was the author’s father; Shireen met Judy while a young girl and was amazed at how Judy's spirit and beautiful smile inspired and encouraged so many to face difficult illnesses and surmount their challenges, to live well and enjoy life.

“When they sent her home on TPN, no one knew how long she would live or what her quality of life would be like,” Shireen says. “As far as Judy was concerned, life itself was good enough and she had no intention of lying on the couch all day. She had been given a second chance, and she was running with it.”

Giving it five stars, one reviewer on Amazon wrote of Lifeliner: “If you like reading about medical developments and down-to-earth humanitarian doctors and the relationships that develop between them and their patients, than this book is for you.”

Lifeliner has scooped awards in the US for Editor’s Choice, Publisher’s Choice, Reader's Choice and won Best Biography in the Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award and is gripping readers around the world. It is available in trade paperback and hard cover online and through bookstores, as well as in multi-format eBook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, Smashwords.com, Sony Reader Store, and soon to come KoboBooks.

Read more and watch a book trailer at http://jeejeebhoy.ca/lifeliner. Photos and video at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pario/sets/72157615087640522/. Book trailer on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kn8WWoml2I.



About the Author

Born in London, England, Shireen Jeejeebhoy resides in Toronto, Canada. She holds a B.Sc. in psychology from the University of Toronto. Read more about this accomplished writer at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ShireenJeejeebhoy.

About Smashwords

Launched in 2008, Smashwords is an eBook publishing and distribution platform serving authors, publishers, readers, and retailers. Smashwords makes it free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to instantly publish and distribute a multi-format eBook. Smashwords puts authors and publishers in full control over the pricing, sampling, and distribution of their works. Authors and publishers receive up to 85 percent of the net proceeds from sales of their works. Smashwords has distribution relationships with leading online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony and with leading mobile e-reading apps such as Stanza, Kobo, Aldiko, FBReader, and Word-Player, spanning all major mobile platforms including Android and iPhone. Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com/. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com/.

Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story
by Shireen Jeejeebhoy
Smashwords Edition
May 2010 / 186 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4523-2324-4 Open Ebook US$4.99
http://jeejeebhoy.ca

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Author and photographer Shireen Jeejeebhoy has published "Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story" and is currently working on a novel and screenplay. Jeejeebhoy resides in Toronto, Canada and holds a B.Sc. in psychology from the University of Toronto.