Reviewed by Ian Lipke
The moving story of a man who was struck down by mesothelioma and his friend who moved the equivalent of the earth to save him. The story opens with a number of lovely character studies of young men at university. Life as lived by these men rings true to the ears of others who enjoyed similar lives. A spirit of authenticity governs this story.
A sense of humour floated free on Jum’s psyche. It was as much a part of him as the love he bore for his wife, Linda. No matter the pain of living with a killing disease, Jum’s sense of humour, his ability to find something comic in the most disastrous of circumstances, held true. He collected friends as a dog gathers fleas and made a home for them within his life.
For reasons such as these, friends like James O’Loghlin became unstinting in their efforts to see that Jum received his just entitlements. They saw a case for unjust discrimination in the Territory and Federal administration’s treatment of their friend. The arguments they presented centred on compensation if one’s home was the malefactor but no funds for those who could not sheet home to a specific cause.
James O’Loghlin is the appropriate person to stand at Jum’s side. Cast with a broad sense of humour, he is at ease in front of an audience, no matter how hostile. He is an experienced and able panel facilitator who always ensures that the discussion is both informative and entertaining. He draws on his experience as a radio host and ex-criminal lawyer to ask the right questions at the right time.
Reading through the book, observing what a civilised government can throw in the way to obfuscate and mislead, one is left with sheer admiration of the petitioners’ gutsy efforts, efforts which are intellectually sound but also creative. The underpinning motive to always ensure that their target never ever felt diminished was admirable. O’Loghlin is quite open about this matter. “Letting rip and venting – with perhaps justified frustration and anger – might feel good, but telling someone what they had to do when you lacked the authority to enforce it was just cosplay.” (136).
As a reader with some personal experience with mesothelioma, I was left without words when I read of Jum’s activities. “He carried a bag that pumped painkillers into him via a tube that disappeared into his wrist…he was more event manager than cancer patient, flitting about making friends with everyone, taking coffee orders, … what it was like working for the ABC … It was only later I realised that he would have figured out that they might have felt uncomfortable invading a dying man’s home to film him and had dialled up his charm and curiosity even higher than usual to put them at ease” (133).
The book reveals Jum as a giant of a man. It also identifies the author, through his own report of the depths he was prepared to go for his friend, as ‘something special in humanity’.
The Missing Piece
(2026)
by James O’Loghlin
Echo Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-7865-8698-8
$34.99; 304 pp