You will feel alone and lonely, and yet, understand that you are not alone. There's this intellectual curiosity about it, but there's also this appreciation and reverence for kind of the unwinding of the miracle. Even her death certificate lists her as an attorney and author. If anyone deserved to embrace fatalism, Julie did. I was sad a lot. I have known a mortal fear that was crushing, and yet I overcame that fear and found courage. At her death she was forty-two, and lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. She later graduated from Harvard Law School, traveled the world alone, married, had two daughters and worked at a prestigious New York City law firm, only to be diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2013. The worth of a persons life lies not in the number of years lived; rather it rests on how well that person has absorbed the lessons of that life, how well that person has come to understand and distill the multiple, messy aspects of the human experience. But also as your mother, I want you to feel the pain, to live it, embrace it, and then learn from it. YIP-WILLIAMS: My thoughts are going. Her husband Joshua Williams is also a lawyer. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window). I understand. It is irrepressible, its very existence inextricably tied to our very spirit, its flame, no matter how weak, not extinguishable.. Julie, as our daughter Belle was so fond of saying, we all love you to infinity and we always will. They have two daughters. She received a bachelors degree in English and Asian Studiesthere. You will understand that joy cannot exist without sadness. I dont like to talk about my personal life. [Whereas] my every thought was pretty much, Holy shit. You will understand that nothing lasts forever, not pain, or joy. And I knew that it was a life goal for her. KAGAN: The entire time that I'm sitting here asking Julie all these questions about her death, Mia and Isabelle are just, like, in the background, playing, totally unfazed by what we're talking about. The reason for her blindness was Congenital cataracts (lens opacity present at birth). But the kind herbiest refused to kill Julie and also rejected any form of payment from the family. But she also had blunter, yet inspiring, things to say, about loss and the unfairness of life. The journey was a month long and tiring. I think everyones a little bit afraid, but she wasnt even long before she was sick. Passage: Julie Yip-Williams. Watching her, I always wondered what it would be like when it actually happened. She was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancerin 2013. Then, at age thirty-seven, with two little girls at home, Julie was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, and a different journey began. Julie Yip-Williams in a family photograph at her home in Brooklyn in January. I want to say the latter stages of 2017. Sometimes, when you practice your instruments, I close my eyes so I can hear better. No one, and certainly not I, could ask for more than that in one lifetime, as brief as it may be." Julie Yip-Williams died in March 2018 of colon cancer. What makes Julies story distinctive is that she approached cancer consciously, Mark Warren, her editor, said in a telephone interview. Did you or she see these books as ultimately a force for good? Probably 150 to 200 pages. As an opportunity. They were written almost as though you had just been given a goal, like losing ten pounds. With Jude Law and Jim Gaffigan as Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. And yet, that single unfortunate physical condition changed me for the better. As your mother, I wish I could protect you from the pain. Julie Yip-Williams died in March 2018 of colon cancer. And then I will hug you and tell you how you did a great job and how very proud I am of you. Many may disagree, but I have always believed, always, even when I was a precocious little girl crying alone in my bed, that our purpose in this life is to experience everything we possibly can, to understand as much of the human condition as we can squeeze into one lifetime, however long or short that may be. [The manuscript] sat on the shelf for some years. About Julie Yip-Williams. What strength Julie Yip-Williams and her husband had. YIP-WILLIAMS: The wallpaper which is on one wall only - it's an accent wall - it's gold. When I was upset about scans and stuff one time, you know, when she was 4 and I was, like, crying and - you know, on the couch and stuff YIP WILLIAMS: Mia has a question for you. Cancer crushes hope, leaving a wasteland of grief, depression, despair and a sense of unending futility. At her death she was forty-two, and lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Josh Williams, who usheredThe Unwindingto press, spoke with us about the books genesis, his difficulty in sharing Julies story, and the hell of learning that youll only get four more years with the person youd been planning on living with for the next 50. This is my challenge to you, my sweet girls, to take an ugly tragedy and transform it into a source of beauty, love, strength, courage, and wisdom. Yip-Williams was born blind in a small village in Vietnam. (Of course, later on, I would study Chinese throughout college and study abroad and my Chinese would surpass my siblings.) And Im also glad for my childrens sake. We will miss you dearly, Julie. We could not be more proud of the life she lived or the person she was. SHAPIRO: That was Julie Yip-Williams reading a letter to her daughters. Her husband, Joshua Williams has said the cause of her death was metastatic colon cancer. Im really proud of her. Theres so love and sadness twisting in the wind. She was told of it only after the death of her grandmother. Here is the link to a conversation Julie had with Tracy Smith of the CBS "Sunday Morning" program. It was definitely there from the very beginning of her cancer journey. It taught me to ask for help, to not be ashamed of my physical shortcoming. She knew she didnt have much time left. But it is possible to reach out and find those like you, and in so doing you will feel not so lonely. We're going to start this next story with a letter. What began as the chronicle of an. We all loved Julie so very much and we miss her terribly, but we also believe that she is in a better place. YIP-WILLIAMS: (Reading) I have often dreamed that when I die, I will finally know what it would be like to see the world without visual impairment. "I have found the meaning and purpose I have desperately sought my entire life. YIP-WILLIAMS: This apartment is the largest physical gift I could give them. "How It Feels to Publish Your Wife's Memoir About Dying". Im not sure. At her death she More about Julie Yip-Williams KAGAN: And then there are the gifts that are harder to pin down. She died four-and-a-half years later, leaving behind her husband, Josh, and two small daughters, 8-year-old Isabelle and 6-year-old Mia. If people were going to come visit me as I'm dying, I want to have a nice background (laughter). But I realized that these things are the low-hanging fruit, the easy-to-solve but relatively unimportant problems of the oh so mundane. It's from a woman named Julie Yip-Williams written to her two young daughters. She thought this experience and this book might have something to teach people about facing hard truths, and would be an exhortation to the living.. The lessons that blindness and then cancer have taught me are too many for me to recount here, but I hope, when you read what follows, you will understand how it is possible to be changed in a positive way by tragedy and you will learn the true value of suffering. Julies older sister also had arrived in the United States with two of her uncles ahead of them. Walk through the experience, and just love it because it's part of your life. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Rounding up our favorite funny videos of the month. Youre not saying that you hate the book or wish she hadnt written it just that this is not the situation you want to be in. And then she, like, paused for a second, and then she's like, but you're not gone yet, mommy. It sounds like the blogs that were out there. Cancer is completing my life, making it whole. Swimsuit model and beauty blogger, Andreea Cristina talks about the dark side of social media! Like you, I had my own loss, the loss of vision, which involved the loss of so much more. She emigrated from Vietnam to Los Angeles when she was nearly four years old and grew up in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Rejoice in life and all its beauty because of it; live with special zest and zeal for me. Buy on Amazon As a young mother facing a terminal diagnosis, Julie Yip-Williams began to write her story, a story like no other. Youve been told that theres a 80 to 90 percent chance that this person you thought you were going to spend your life with, youre going to spend the next two to four years with. If you wish to know more about Julie Yip-Williams, please go to youtube.com to view the CBS Sunday Morning Show video clip to see Passage: Julie Yip-Williams. So in early 1979, along with 3-year-old Julie and about 50 members of her family became the so-called boat people and boarded fishing boats from Vietnam to Hong Kong. And we decided to do it in 2013, even though Julie had just been diagnosed with this awful disease. [2], Yip worked in corporate law in New York City from 2002. Ms. Yip-Williams with her husband, Joshua Williams, and daughters, from left, Isabelle and Mia, in 2012 in a family photograph. She would go on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer, with a husband, a family, and a life she had once assumed would be impossible. People looked at me with pity, too, which I loathed. Interred on 23 Mar 2018. Even here, two weeks before she died, she was still finding new things to be fascinated by. In her own words, she was in her prime: a 37-year-old corporate lawyer in New York, happily married with two young girls.. Kagan was there and remembers both the heartbreak of watching the family grieve and the weight of the responsibility she felt in telling Yip-Williams's story. Are Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Jennifer Spinner engaged? Book - 2019 "Born blind in Vietnam, Julie Yip-Williams narrowly escaped euthanasia by her grandmother, only to then flee the political upheaval of the late 1970s with her family. Remember to clear the cache and close the browser window. She died in March 2018 and documented the final months of her extraordinary life for the new podcast, Julie. She had some tough edges, but Julie was ultimately a kind, loving family person. Finally, she is survived by her beloved cousins Caroline Yip Hendley of Westport, Connecticut and Nancy Yip Ramos of Los Angeles, whom she considered sisters, and by Chipper, her much-adored bichon frise. This interview has been edited and condensed. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today As a young mother facing a terminal diagnosis, Julie Yip-Williams began to write her story, a story like no other. ISABELLE YIP WILLIAMS: Mommy, I'm going to stick a note on you. Then, at age 37, with two little girls at home, Julie was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, and a different journey began. Julie got too sick in the last several months to write it. I have solved all the logistical problems resulting from my death that I can think of I am hiring a very reasonably priced cook for you and Daddy; I have left a list of instructions about who your dentist is and when your school tuition needs to be paid and when to renew the violin rental contract and the identity of the piano tuner. Yip-Williams died of metastatic colon cancer at age 42 in March 2018 . I promise. Getty Julie Chen has said she supports her husband Les Moonves amid sexual harassment allegations and the two are still together. Goodbye for now, my love. Most dates on his world tour have been canceled. When Julie Yip-Williams was a few months old, her parents almost had her murdered. She graduated from Williams College in 1997 and from Harvard Law School in 2002. But I would be remiss if I did not try. She's giving me a tour of her Brooklyn apartment. Julie Yip-Williams died in March 2018 of colon cancer. I love you both forever and ever - Mommy. Yip-Williams recorded the various chemo cocktails doctors prescribed her, the temptation to simply give in and stop all treatment, the forced jollity and fierceness of fellow cancer sufferers, and, most movingly, her attempts to come to terms with the fact that her daughters would grow up without her and her husband might one day find new love. She was born in Tam-Ky, Vietnam, just as the war was ending, grew up in Monterey Park, California, and graduated from Williams College and Harvard Law School. And Belle said, what's wrong? JoshManton and I are so sorry to hear of Julies passing. Her early years had been anything but easy. I read each and every one of her blog posts since day one. She died in March 2018 and documented the final months of her extraordinary life for the new podcast, Julie. It forced me to be honest with myself and my limitations, and eventually to be honest with others. At age 37, Julie Yip-Williams was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. The expanded two-day event includes Ari Lennox and GloRilla. Oh, how I long to have perfect vision, even after all these years without. In 2013 Yip-Williams was diagnosed with a rare strain of bowel cancer. She has also included messages about her illness to her young daughters Mia and Isabelle. Ms. Yip-Williams with her husband, Joshua Williams, and daughters, from left, Isabelle and Mia, in 2012 in a family photograph. Accuracy and availability may vary. Over the past few years, a spate of memoirs written by terminal cancer patients have become best sellers: Paul KalanithisWhen Breath Becomes Air;Nina RiggsThe Bright Hour; Cory TaylorsDying: A Memoir. (The name Yip is the Chinese equivalent, rendered in English, of the Vietnamese name Diep.). Her story also attracted the attention of CBS Sunday Morning, which televised a profile of her this month. Julie died peacefully, surrounded by her family and close friends, in a warm, sun-splashed room of the apartment she so meticulously planned and designed. And I really am very grateful that she got the book deal that she got. There are one or two pictures that are different now, and if she walked into the apartment I sometimes think about this Im sure shed look around. In 2018, Chen showed support for her husband in a statement on . YIP-WILLIAMS: Nobody else should tell your child that you're dying except you. That expectation must be derived from growing up in a rich country where the rule of law is so firmly entrenched. It's a letter to prepare them all for her death. What I do know for sure is that Mrs. Olson was right. She was a wonderful wife who was a best friend and ally to her husband Josh in a tough world, a Chinese Tiger Mom who loved her daughters infinitely but wouldnt accept mediocrity from them, a loving and concerned sister, daughter, cousin and friend. KAGAN: A few months before she died, Julie was talking to Mark Warren, her friend and book editor. The coming-of-age story grapples with themes of . She had already. And last, wherever I may go, a part of me will always be with you. Yip-Williamss memoir is different: more raw, less lyrical, and brilliantly honest about the rage that accompanies the physical and emotional pain of a premature death. KAGAN: They show me the bathroom, the kitchen and then Julie's bedroom. Following Julies grandmothers instructions, her father and mother took their 2-month-old daughter to an herbalist in the coastal city of Da Nang. It seems to have a life and will of its own that I cannot control through the sheer force of my mind. All rights reserved. Back in 2013, [they] wouldve been helpful to me. I hope the family is thriving . Live! Julie Yip-Williams has died on Monday at her home in Brooklyn. They were so young when she died. Maybe Jennifer would have more support if she werent wrong so often. Meet Julie. Julie was a corporate lawyer and also an author. But also as your mother, I want you to feel the pain, to live it, embrace it, and thenlearnfrom it. You would be foolish to expect fairness, at least when it comes to matters of life and death, matters outside the scope of the law, matters that cannot be engineered or manipulated by human effort, matters that are distinctly the domain of God or luck or fate or some other unknowable, incomprehensible force. She deserved something incredible, especially given the shitty hand she was dealt. Ms. Yip-Williams wrestled with hope, which she cursed as an illusory sentiment., Cancer crushes hope, leaving a wasteland of grief, depression, despair and a sense of unending futility, she wrote in 2014, adding: Hope is a funny thing, though. As the years progress Yip-Williams becomes a lawyer, a wife, and a mother. She was born in Tam-Ky, Vietnam, just as the war was ending, grew up in Monterey Park, California, and graduated from Williams College and Harvard Law School. She is also survived by her siblings Lyna Yip of New York and Denton Yip and his family (Angel Moon, wife, and Carter and Adrian Yip, Julies nephews) of Palos Verdes Estates, CA, as well as by her parents Peter Yip and Ann Yip of Monterey Park, CA. By Julie Yip-Williams. Tanya and Bianca. Julie Ly Yip-Williams, beloved wife, mother, sister and daughter, passed away on March 19, 2018 at the age of 42, following a long and fierce battle with advanced colon cancer. It's, like, this beautiful term, and that's what my oncologist called it. And here is a link toRichard Sandomirs tribute to Juliein the New York Times. She died in March 2018, aged forty-two, and leaves behind her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. At her death she was forty-two, and lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. And Ill let you know when Im talking with God. (LogOut/ [6] The book was frequently compared to Paul Kalanithi's memoir When Breath Becomes Air (2016), and Nina Riggs' The Bright Hour (2017), which both had similar themes. Are you protective of the story in some way? And as a companion to the memoir, Julie Yip-Williams invited producer Eleanor Kagan to help her record the final months of her life. Below please find the obituary I wrote to honor Julie, which includes links to her New York Times obituary and her recent appearance on CBSs Sunday Morning program. Loaded into a rickety boat with three hundred other refugees, Julie made it to Hong Kong and, ultimately, America, where a surgeon at UCLA gave her partial sight. How are you and your girls? Rejoice in life and all of its beauty, she told her children. And that there was room in the world for a blog that would actually get into the raw truth. She thought this experience and this book might have something to teach people about facing hard truths and would be an exhortation to the living.. (LogOut/ She was born in Tam-Ky, Vietnam, just as the war was ending, grew up in Monterey Park, California, and graduated from Williams College and Harvard Law School. I call it the evolution of the soul. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. She was born blind. She drew so much strength from writing this blog and was deeply appreciative of her readers and the meaningful relationships she forged with so many of you. Yip-Williams wrote The Unwinding of the Miracle). The Bookseller Julie Yip-Williams lived a life defined by effort and incredible self-reliance. It made me think about how life carries on no matter what. I promise. Journey sounds very friendly. We were lucky because our boat did not sink as so many others did. Towards the end of her life, Julie wanted to document everything - the emotional experience, trips to the hospital for treatment and conversations like this. But in the meantime, live, my darling babies. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The grandmother was very upset. You will be deprived of a mother. We hope for peace and understanding for all of you in this tough time. Now, she prepares to leave her young daughters behind, passing on lessons of resilience. Her circle of friends encompassed many parts of the globe and included people of all religions, ethnicities, political persuasions, sexual orientations and occupations. And I'm, like, trying to really embrace that experience and, like, understand it - like, what physically is happening to me. Her blog captured her feelings of hope, hopelessness and ultimately acceptance. But it would not be my choice. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Soon they again flew to Los Angeles. Julie, as our daughter Belle was so fond of saying, we all love you to infinity and we always will. Like, oh, (laughter) I'm very interested to see how it unfolds. It taught me strength and resilience. Born blind in She would go on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer, with a husband, a family, and a life she had once assumed would be impossible. Her editor said in a telephone interview, What makes Julies story distinctive is that she approached cancer consciously. Physically in the cold, mentally in the Caribbean. The funeral was on a late winter's day under a cloudless blue sky. At her death she was forty-two, and lived in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. Her debut song. For a long time, especially in the beginning of this cancer journey, I felt that way too, but no longer. We both, in different ways, are very type-A, organized people. After immigrating to America as a child, Yip-Williams underwent surgery that restored partial sight. https://fundraise.ccalliance.org/blue-star-tributes/julieyipwilliams. Very late, very late. And being stunned that there werent more that were clear and helpful. That Julie Yip-Williams survived infancy was a miracle. As your mother, I wish I could protect you from the pain. In the years since my diagnosis, I have known love and compassion that I never knew possible; I have witnessed and experienced for myself the deepest levels of human caring, which humbled me to my core and compelled me to be a better person. She was blind from congenital cataracts, and a grandmother pressured her parents to find an herbalist to end the baby's life. A blind child refugee from Vietnam, Yip-Williams achieved a life she never could have imagined. JULIE YIP-WILLIAMS: Dear Mia and Isabelle, I have solved all the logistical problems resulting from my death that I can think of. And here is a link to Richard Sandomir's tribute to Julie in the New York Times. [She] was fairly peaceful when she slipped away so in some ways that did diminish my fear. Most would say that cancer, the terminal kind, is truncating and destroying their lives. Theres just no two ways about that. In 2002, she joined the law firm Cleary Gottlieb in New York. Julies last birthday was January 6, 2018, and she was extremely sick at that time. Julie was born January 6, 1976, in Tam Ky, Vietnam and was of Chinese descent. The family then had settled in Monterey Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. Diep Ly Thanh was born in Tam K, South Vietnam, the daughter of Diep The Phu (Peter Yip) and Lam Que Anh (Ann Yip). Aug 3, 2021-- "On 19 March 2018, almost five years after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, thirty-eight-year-old Julie Yip-Williams died, leaving behind a husband and two daughters.Her early years had been anything but easy. Besides her husband, who is also a lawyer, she is survived by her daughters, parents, brother and sister. How Jon Hamm Found Love in Anna Osceola after Ending his Long-Term Relationship with Jennifer Westfeldt! They had two daughters, Mia and Isabelle. But as time wore on, things got darker, in 2016, 2017. Or if Id had a particularly exhausting day at work, maybe the next day. And I'll think about all the nights that they'll sleep in this bed, and I'll think about, you know, how I won't be here. Although Julie did not write the blog with the intention of commercializing her work, through a series of serendipitous occurrences the blog was picked up by Random House and is being converted into a book that we all ardently hope will make a difference in peoples lives. Susan Schneider Williams watched her husband suffer with undiagnosed Lewy body dementia before he killed himself in 2014. . Its not just her grandmother. She also left behind a manuscript and a few years worth of blog posts chronicling the confounding reality of facing death in her late 30s, which is published this week as The Unwinding of the Miracle. I long for death to make me whole, to give me what was denied me in this life. Julie Yip-Williams was born on Jan. 6, 1976, in Tam Ky. One year ago today, Julie Yip-Williams died of colon cancer at 42, leaving behind her husband Josh and two young daughters. To raise their three children, Ms. Yip-Williamss father became a wholesale vegetable buyer and her mother a manicurist. It seems to have a life and will of its own that I cannot control through the sheer force of my mind. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google She was just over the moon. Live a life worth living. 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