Sarah Wildman: Let Grief Be Messy
4/17/202641 min
New York Times writer and editor Sarah Wildman’s daughter Orli was 10 when she was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer. Anderson reached out to her after reading her remarkable essays about Orli's life and death. Their conversation is thought-provoking and deeply moving.
Host: Anderson Cooper Showrunner: Haley Thomas Producers: Chuck Hadad, Grace Walker, Emily Williams, Madeleine Thompson Associate Producer: Kyra Dahring Video Editor: Eric Zembrzuski Technical Director: Dan Dzula Bookers: Kerry Rubin and Kari Pricher
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAnderson Cooper· Host0:01
Welcome to All There Is. Wherever you are in the world and in your grief, I'm glad you're here. A couple years ago, I began noticing some articles written by a mom named Sarah Wildman about her child, Orlee, who'd been diagnosed initially with a rare form of liver cancer. Sarah's articles were beautiful and moving, and I've been wanting to talk with her for a long time. She's a staff writer and editor at The New York Times. Her daughter, Orlee, was 10 when she found out she had hepatoblastoma, and what she and Sarah and her husband, Ian, and their other daughter, Hannah, went through is extraordinary, and it's what so many parents face when their child gets sick. Orlee died in March 2023 when she was 14. I can't wait for you to meet Sarah and learn about her remarkable daughter, Orlee. That conversation begins in a moment. Can you tell us a little bit about Orlee?
Sarah Wildman· Guest0:55
Yeah, I'd love to. I often say, you know, I really don't love to focus on her death because it kind of erases all that she was, right?
Anderson Cooper· Host1:04
Hmm.
Sarah Wildman· Guest1:04
And I think that's some of the problem with bereavement in some ways. It's so hard to see the person. She was diagnosed at age 10 with a really rare form of liver cancer. She was on a basketball team, and she was dancing. She was an amazing dancer, but she was starting to have all this pain, and no one understood it. We kept going back and forth to the doctor. No one put anything together. And the fall of 2019, she went to the ER and was diagnosed. Her