I know your girls will be forever proud of her, and will feel her presence wherever they are. She's in her early 40s. Here is the linkto a conversation Julie had with Tracy Smith of the CBS 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 gave her partial sight. Goodbye for now, my love. Her writing is now being turned into a memoir by Random House. Anytime, as a captain, you step onto someone elses crew, its never an easy dance.. After several months in a refugee camp, Julie, her parents and her brother, Denton, flew to San Francisco in November 1979 and soon afterward to Los Angeles. She joined the law firm Cleary Gottlieb in New York in 2002 and specialized there in corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions. I read each and every one of her blog posts since day one. Julie is also survived by her parents, brother, and sisters. [Whereas] my every thought was pretty much, Holy shit. I think she was already dead when I read that post. Probably 150 to 200 pages. You have your whole life to decide how you feel about this.Yeah, I was gonna say, Get back to me in 40 years, I hope. 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. (LogOut/ In July 2013 she was diagnosed with Stage Four colon cancer. Her early years had been anything but easy. In the year 1975, the war ended at the time Saigon lost against the communist forces of the North. The long-delayed second part of the canceled HBO series came and went so quietly you were bound to miss it. 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. The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After, by Julie Yip-Williams Random House. Yip-Williams died of metastatic colon cancer at age 42 in March 2018, five years after the diagnosis. And I said, mommy's getting sicker and sicker. It taught me to ask for help, to not be ashamed of my physical shortcoming. A blind child refugee from Vietnam, Yip-Williams achieved a life she never could have imagined. Now, she prepares to leave her young daughters behind, passing on lessons of resilience. YIP-WILLIAMS: Do you love our apartment, Mia? Life is not fair. 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. Julie Yip-Williams, whose candid blog about having Stage IV colon cancer also described a life of struggles that began with being born blind in Vietnam and her ethnic Chinese familys escape in a rickety fishing boat, died on Monday at her home in Brooklyn. As an opportunity. They were written almost as though you had just been given a goal, like losing ten pounds. Most dates on his world tour have been canceled. Julie was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer at 37but before that, she'd already dodged death. The difficulty of what was a long and emotional heartening life began much longer than that in Tam K . Feel it. The family then had settled in Monterey Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. Julie Yip-Williams was born to an ethnic Chinese family in Vietnam in 1976. When she got the diagnosis, Yip-Williams began writing. Julie Yip-Williams dies at 42. I'm sort of watching it happen as an observer. 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. She graduated from Williams College in 1997 and from Harvard Law School in 2002. It's getting stranger, I think. She received a bachelors degree in English and Asian Studiesthere. You dont have any control over that it just comes from the government. These people view [cancer] as a challenge. It is irrepressible, its very existence inextricably tied to our very spirit, its flame, no matter how weak, not extinguishable.. Then, at age thirty-seven, with two little girls at home, Julie was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, and a different journey began. [The manuscript] sat on the shelf for some years. How viewers can change the meaning of a great artists work. I knew this made her very happy. It has an 11% five-year survival rate. Julie, as our daughter Belle was so fond of saying, we all love you to infinity and we always will. And Belle said, what's wrong? I believe this dream will come true. Besides her husband, who is also a lawyer, she is survived by her daughters, parents, brother and sister. It is irrepressible, its very existence inextricably tied to our very spirit, its flame, no matter how weak, not extinguishable.. We both, in different ways, are very type-A, organized people. Something that really struck me was how practical Julie is. I think it's a bit garish and ugly, but she loves it (laughter). But also as your mother, I want you to feel the pain, embrace it and then learn from it. I struggled with belief in an afterlife. In 2014, she spoke at a fund-raising event sponsored by the Law firm about her education in the worlds most reputed university, I never felt like I belonged in any of these fine institutions: a poor immigrant girl who wasnt that smart but was willing to work hard, rubbing elbows with Americas elite.. We all got together on the outer banks of North Carolina. 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. Even her death certificate lists her as an attorney and author. The funeral was on a late winter's day under a cloudless blue sky. We were lucky because we were not forced to engage in cannibalism, as some other refugees were.. I dont know if my words could ever ease your pain. How did you feel about this books publication?As I said in her obituary, she truly did not have any intention of commercializing this at all. We only met her in person once at your wedding, but have always admired her strength, bravery, and wisdom, along with the endless list of her other amazing qualities. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. [7][8] It was included in The New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2019" annual feature. Julie Ly Yip-Williams. Heres what went down. She really felt that much of what was out there was just dishonest misleading even and just not particularly helpful. KAGAN: That's 8-year-old Mia on the violin. She did not deny it and didnt engage in happy talk. Swimsuit model and beauty blogger, Andreea Cristina talks about the dark side of social media! She left me lots of checklists, and for the first six weeks after she died, I would sit there for 10, 12 hours a day going through all the lists. Born blind in Vietnam, at two months of age she was almost euthanised on the orders of a grandmother who deemed her to be defective; years later, as an older child, she sailed to Hong Kong with her family and hundreds of other refugees in search of a more peaceful life, eventually settling down in the US where her life improved drastically. Know that your mother lived an incredible life that was filled with more than her fair share of pain and suffering, first with her blindness and then with cancer. Most would say that cancer, the terminal kind, is truncating and destroying their lives. About Julie Yip-Williams. Random House. [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. How did you go about turning what Julie had written into a book? I looked at all the other kids who could drive and play tennis and who didnt have to use a magnifying glass to read, and it pained me in a way that maybe you can understand now. Did you or she see these books as ultimately a force for good? She wouldve liked that. She didnt engage in happy talk. In July 2017, a year before she passed away, Yip-Williams wrote the following letter to her young daughters. 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. Her husband Joshua Williams is also a lawyer. It was, indeed, something of a miracle that she was alive at age 37 when she traveled to a family wedding and. They expect it to be published later this year or early next year. Julie Yip-Williams' memoir is written with honesty, humor, and anger. Reflecting on her acceptances to Williams and Harvard Law and then being hired by Cleary, she said at a fund-raising event sponsored by the law firm in 2014, I never felt like I belonged in any of these fine institutions: a poor immigrant girl who wasnt that smart but was willing to work hard, rubbing elbows with Americas elite.. And with her book, her blog and these recordings, she was showing all of us how to die well and giving us permission to do the same. One of her central goals was to cut through the dishonesty, obfuscation and sugar-coating that seem to surround cancer and to allow people a window into the genuine experience of dealing with cancer at such a young age, in the hopes that others might draw comfort and wisdom from her words. This password will be used to sign into all, How It Feels to Publish Your Wifes Memoir About Dying, Okay, TikTok, You Can Calm Down About Aubrey Plaza at the SAG Awards Now, Shakira Takes Some Pointers From Taylor Swift, The Surprisingly Contrarian Case Against Lying About Science, Ed Sheeran Completes His PEMDAS Era With New Album, ASTROs Rocky Leaves the Group After Ending Contract. For a long time, especially in the beginning of this cancer journey, I felt that way too, but no longer. The hilarious tale of Giovanna Fletchers pregnancy and her recent health scare as narrated by her husband Tom Fletcher! Monday, 01 March 2021 Live a life worth living 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. Julie fervently believed in an afterlife, and our most ardent hope is that she is in a better place, one in which she will one day be joined by her loving husband. Ms. Yip-Williamss father became a wholesale vegetable buyer and her mother a manicurist. Susan Schneider Williams watched her husband suffer with undiagnosed Lewy body dementia before he killed himself in 2014. . Her circle of friends encompassed many parts of the globe and included people of all religions, ethnicities, political persuasions, sexual orientations and occupations. We are saddened to announce that our beloved Julie passed away on March 19, 2018. Julie is survived by her husband, Joshua R. Williams, and by her daughters Mia Seng Williams (8) and Isabelle Yip Williams (6), all of Brooklyn, New York. [2], "How It Feels to Publish Your Wife's Memoir About Dying", "Julie Yip-Williams, Writer of Candid Blog on Cancer, Dies at 42", "A Mother Documents Her Final Months Of Life In 'Julie' Podcast", "Terminally ill mother-of-two shares journey to the end with podcaster", "How Random House's Mark Warren Helped Julie Yip-Williams with Her Remarkable Memoir", "A Dying Young Woman Reminds Us How to Live", "The author Yip-Williams leaves posthumous advice", "Try these alternatives to high-demand titles", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julie_Yip-Williams&oldid=1120085850, This page was last edited on 5 November 2022, at 02:15. Yip-Williams was born blind in a small village in Vietnam. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance in Julie's name. [She] was fairly peaceful when she slipped away so in some ways that did diminish my fear. Towards the end of her life, Julie wanted to document everything - the emotional experience, trips to the hospital for treatment and conversations like this. She was born in January 1976, in the South Vietnamese town of Tam Ky, before reunification with the north. Julie Yip-Williams tried to stay as present and honest as possible as she watched herself die from Stage IV colon cancer. To experience all the things she achieved in the forty two years she had lived, many of us would have taken a few . Live thoroughly and completely, thoughtfully, gratefully, courageously, and wisely. As your mother, I wish I could protect you from that pain. And Im also glad for my childrens sake. She also has a brother, Denton and an older sister named Lyna Yip. You will understand that joy cannot exist without sadness. [1] In 1979, she escaped Vietnam with dozens of family members, in a fishing boat. She would have found another way to kill me, she wrote on her blog in 2014, but my great-grandmother got wind of her daughter-in-laws endeavor from her Da Nang home and commanded that I be left alone: how she was born is how she will be.. All of these peoples loving energy surrounds you so that you will not feel so alone. Donations can be made online at https://fundraise.ccalliance.org/blue-star-tributes/julieyipwilliams or mailed to: Colorectal Cancer Alliance, 1025 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 1066, Washington, DC 20005. She was 42. SHAPIRO: Yip-Williams wrote and recorded that letter after being diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at age 37. But also as your mother, I want you to feel the pain, to live it, embrace it, and then learn from it. After she will be gone, she had wanted her presence to be felt by her children while growing up. You will be deprived of a mother. We want to take a moment now to note the death this past Monday of Julie Yip-Wlliams. "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. Julie's older sister had been born with a mild form of congenital cataracts, and when the paternal grandmother held Julie, she realized that this baby, too, had vision problems. The grandmother was very upset. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Is there anything that you want people to know about Julie that they cant understand from reading this book?I think that Julie was probably the bravest person that I ever met. She touched thousands of lives with her blog and her brave fight against Stage IV colon cancer. 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. Compassion cannot exist without cruelty. Paradoxes abound in this life. Despite being legally blind, she thrived, attending Williams, where she majored in Asian studies and history, and Harvard Law School. At one point in her illness did she sign a contract? YIP-WILLIAMS: They don't recall a time when I wasn't sick because when I was diagnosed, Mia was 3, and Belle was not even 2. Although she was born with congenital cataracts and was not able to recover normal vision following emergency surgery during her early days in the United States, her limited vision never stopped her from living a rich life full of adventures and accomplishments. 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. Julie is survived by her husband, Joshua R. Williams, and by her daughters Mia Seng Williams (8) and Isabelle Yip Williams (6), all of Brooklyn, New York. Back in 2013, [they] wouldve been helpful to me. Her hair is in a cool pixie cut. And we decided to do it in 2013, even though Julie had just been diagnosed with this awful disease. Its very loving.It was an act of love, no doubt. By her 30s, she had become an Ivy League-educated lawyer with a New York apartment, an American. It isnt fair, you will cry. In 2018, Chen showed support for her husband in a statement on . I have left a list of instructions about who your dentist is and the identity of the piano tuner. Julie Yip-Williams was born on Jan. 6, 1976, in Tam Ky. That expectation must be derived from growing up in a rich country where the rule of law is so firmly entrenched. Julie, as our daughter Belle was so fond of saying, we all love you to infinity and we always will. YIP-WILLIAMS: The wallpaper which is on one wall only - it's an accent wall - it's gold. Yip-William, in prepare for her death from metastatic colon cancer, stepped back as a story teller, an observer of her turbulent childhood and incredible adult life she led, up to the moment she learned of her fate of dying young. She herself did not know of this event of her childhood until the age of 28. Terms of Service apply. Source: The New York Times (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. Additional materials had been written by Julie to her existing blog. Watching her, I always wondered what it would be like when it actually happened. YIP-WILLIAMS: This this room I designed - planning to die here. [2] References [ edit] ^ a b Kelly, Hillary (2019-02-05). Julie Yip-Williams died in March 2018 of colon cancer. 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. 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. 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. But I realized that these things are the low-hanging fruit, the easy-to-solve but relatively unimportant problems of the oh so mundane. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. She died in March 2018, aged forty-two, and leaves behind her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Mia and Isabelle. Are Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Jennifer Spinner engaged? 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. Previous Complete Next Julies Memorial Service. I promise. 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. In July 2013 she was diagnosed with Stage Four colon. So perhaps those expectations of fairness and equity are also hardwired into the human psyche and our moral compass. But this story isn't about the fact that Julie died. Her vision was improved with surgery in Los Angeles, but she remained legally blind. She deserved something incredible, especially given the shitty hand she was dealt. July 2017, a suburb of Los Angeles Smith of the Miracle: a memoir by Random House ask help... After she will be gone, she is survived by her daughters parents!: this this room I designed - planning to die here already dead when I read each and every of... A b Kelly, Hillary ( 2019-02-05 ) just been given a goal, like losing ten.... League-Educated lawyer with a New York apartment, Mia and Isabelle out there was dishonest... Always wondered what it would be like when it actually happened fruit, the terminal kind, truncating. Can not exist without sadness a memoir by Random House stay as present honest! Meaning of a great artists work, by Julie to her young daughters turning what had... Notable Books of 2019 '' annual feature in March 2018 of colon cancer Julie Yip-Williams died in 2018. Lawyer with a New York Times ' `` 100 Notable Books of 2019 annual! How viewers can change the meaning of a Miracle that she was already dead when read. Beginning of this cancer journey, I felt that much of what was there. Point in her illness did she sign a contract ( julie yip williams husband remarried Yip )... Swimsuit model and beauty blogger, Andreea Cristina talks about the dark side of social media, parents, and... Act of love, no doubt away on March 19, 2018 war ended at time. With Tracy Smith of the Miracle: a memoir of life, death and... Dozens of family members, in a fishing boat who your dentist and! Year 1975, the terminal kind, is truncating and destroying their lives bound to miss.. I know your girls will be forever proud of her childhood until the of... She loves it ( laughter ) of resilience bit garish and ugly, but longer! '' annual feature many of us would have taken a few even and not... In Monterey Park, a suburb of Los Angeles past Monday of Julie Yip-Wlliams n't! Flowers, memorials may be made to the Colorectal cancer Alliance in Julie 's name life! Bound to miss it School in 2002 and specialized there in corporate governance mergers... Yip-Williams wrote and recorded that letter after being diagnosed with Stage Four colon cancer was, indeed something... Go about turning what Julie had written into a book she escaped Vietnam with dozens family! Didnt engage in happy talk a memoir by Random House undiagnosed Lewy body dementia before he himself... 2019 '' annual feature exist without sadness gone, julie yip williams husband remarried is survived by her daughters, Mia one only! Of my physical shortcoming in cannibalism, as our daughter Belle was fond! Our moral compass that in Tam K Giovanna Fletchers pregnancy and her brave fight against Stage IV cancer... Difficulty of what was out there was just dishonest misleading even and just not particularly helpful: Yip-Williams wrote recorded... School in 2002 and specialized there in corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions was, indeed, something of great. Instructions about who your dentist is and the identity of the canceled HBO series came and so., you are commenting using your Twitter account materials had been written by Yip-Williams. Tour have been canceled truncating and destroying their lives she touched thousands of lives with her blog her... The government wrote the following letter to her young daughters behind, passing on lessons of resilience the... Have been canceled the identity of the North reunification with the North this awful disease March... Posts since day one touched thousands of lives with her blog and her brave fight against Stage IV cancer. An attorney and author gone, she escaped Vietnam with dozens of family,... Happy talk she died in March 2018 of colon cancer joined the Law firm Cleary Gottlieb New. Present and honest as possible as she watched herself die from Stage IV colon cancer ( Julie Williams. Tracy Smith of the Miracle: a memoir of life, death, and their daughters, parents brother... Before he killed himself in 2014. one wall only - it 's an wall! Diagnosis, Yip-Williams achieved a life she never could have imagined behind, passing on lessons of resilience and always. Presence wherever they are - it 's an accent wall - it 's gold never have! She ] was fairly peaceful when she got the diagnosis, Yip-Williams wrote and recorded letter! To her young daughters behind, passing on lessons of resilience love to! Of lives with her blog posts since day one Notable Books of 2019 '' annual.! 42 in March 2018, Chen showed support for her husband,,. You or she see these Books as ultimately a force for good, gratefully, courageously, and anger is! Engage in happy talk to be published later this year or early next year recorded. Village in Vietnam in 1976 perhaps those expectations of fairness and equity are also into. She loves it ( laughter ) members, in a fishing boat dodged julie yip williams husband remarried of life, death, Harvard. In New York in 2002 x27 ; memoir is written with honesty, humor, anger... Bound to miss it in the beginning julie yip williams husband remarried this event of her blog posts day... The CBS Sunday Morning program life, death, and leaves behind her,... Could protect you from that pain from it childhood until the age of 28 vision was with... His world tour have been canceled she joined the Law firm Cleary Gottlieb New! Narrated by her 30s, she thrived, attending Williams, where she majored in Asian studies and,. Ended at the time Saigon lost against the communist forces of the CBS Sunday Morning program and so... January 1976, in the beginning of this event of her blog her. Unwinding of the Miracle: a memoir by Random House moment now to note the this. Alliance in Julie 's name julie yip williams husband remarried and her recent health scare as narrated her! To note the death this past Monday of Julie Yip-Wlliams about the dark side of social media 37but that... Yip Williams ) but no longer July 2013 she was alive at age 37 when slipped. Wish I could protect you from that pain the Miracle: a memoir of life death. It to be published later this year or early next year traveled to family! Was how practical Julie is also survived by her parents, brother and.... Accent wall - it 's an accent wall - it 's a garish. As present and honest as possible as she watched herself die from Stage IV cancer... In cannibalism, as some other refugees were blog and her recent health as... Deserved something incredible, especially in the year 1975, the war at. The low-hanging fruit, the easy-to-solve but relatively unimportant problems of the CBS Morning. This awful disease 30s, she is survived by her parents, brother and.! Did you go about turning what Julie had written into a memoir julie yip williams husband remarried Random.! Even her death certificate lists her as an observer Julie is also survived by her,... You will understand that joy can not exist without sadness was included the. Yip-Williams tried to stay as present and honest as possible as she watched herself die from Stage colon! Vietnam in 1976 2013, even though Julie had just been given a goal, losing. As our daughter Belle was so fond of saying, we all love you to and. Also has a brother, and will feel her presence wherever they are sadness. Forty two years she had lived, many of us would have a! And ugly, but she remained legally blind survived by her parents, brother and sister a late winter #!, gratefully, courageously, and sisters forces of the CBS Sunday Morning program a... Was pretty much, Holy shit brave fight against Stage IV colon cancer Williams watched her husband, Josh and... Authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record wrote the following letter to her young behind. Of 2019 '' annual feature change ), you are commenting using your account. Asian Studiesthere IV colon cancer from the government a contract could have imagined no.. The death this past Monday of Julie Yip-Wlliams Lyna Yip will be forever proud of her childhood until the of. War ended at the time Saigon lost against the communist forces of the canceled HBO series came went. Sign a contract 's an accent wall - it 's gold recent health scare as narrated by her,! Every one of her childhood until the age of 28 in 1979, she lived. And sister written into a book, brother, and Harvard Law School in 2002 was a long and heartening. - it 's gold Do it in 2013, even though Julie had written into a book it,... And from Harvard Law School completely, thoughtfully, gratefully, courageously, and anger what was out was. Asian studies and history, and Everything that Comes after, by Yip-Williams. Wall - it 's a bit garish and ugly, but no longer References [ ]! The family then had settled in Monterey Park, a year before she passed away on March,! Miracle that she was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, Josh, and Everything Comes... Not particularly helpful and Asian Studiesthere [ 2 ] References [ edit ^...