The Agewyz Podcast

Jay Perry: Journeying Through Cancer

Episode Summary

Canadian photographer Jay Perry was thirty-one years old when his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Jay’s business was just taking off, with a portfolio that included artists Snoop Dogg, Usher and Gwen Stefani, but he decided to stop working and move in with his parents to help care for and spend time with his dad. On the show he talks about the experience.

Episode Notes

Canadian photographer Jay Perry was thirty-one years old when his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Jay’s business was just taking off, with a portfolio that included artists Snoop Dogg, Usher and Gwen Stefani, but he decided to stop working and move in with his parents to help care for and spend time with his dad. On the show he talks about the experience chronicled in his book, “My Dad Got Sick: Love and Insights From a Caregiver’s Unexpected Journey Through Cancer.” Jay tells us why it was all worth it, but also frankly shares his anxiety about being in debt from taking two years off from work, why he made himself vulnerable by sharing his cancer journey with his dad on social media and why he didn’t take a lot of photos or make any videos of his dad before his death. Told he had nine months to live, Jay’s father continued to baffle doctors two years after his diagnosis. Jay also tells us about his mission trip to Haiti and “Kettenie-Love,” a photograph he took during the trip that changed both Jay’s life and the little girl in the photo, and about his project Friends With Hearts.

For a transcript of this episode click here: Transcript

Explore Jay’s book, “My Dad Got Sick”

Jay’s website

The story behind “Kettenie-Love”

More about the project Friends With Hearts

Music: “Melancholia” by Dlay | CC BY NC ND | Free Music Archive