Nancy Borowick, 28, took pictures of her parents over the past year to show their strength when fighting their respective forms of the disease. Her father, Howard, died December 7.
After both of her parents were diagnosed with cancer, Nancy Borowick wanted to show their courage and strength is as clear as black and white.
Borowick, 28, of New York, started a photography project when her mother and father found out they had the disease a year ago. The Cancer Family is a collection of black and white pictures featuring Westchester County residents Howard and Laurel, both 58. The album shows the two in moments of great compassion and love as they comfort each other, as well as vulnerability and pain, such as when they’re in the hospital or a topless picture of Laurel that shows her missing breast from her mastectomy.
“People have asked why don’t I have more sad and gritty pictures?” she said. “I do have more of them, but my family, how we cope with this is humour, joy and enjoying the time we have together.”
Laurel was diagnosed last winter of breast cancer for the third time. And last December Howard was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He passed away on December 7, Borowick said.
“He beat the odds. He lived a lot longer than people expected,” she said, noting the high mortality rate for that particular type of cancer.
Nancy Borowick initially started this venture as a college project a few years ago when her mother was diagnosed for the second time.
“I wanted to spend more time with my mom,” she said. “If I was photographing her I could spend more time with her.”
So when both of her parents were diagnosed last year, she decided — not knowing how much time they both had — to start documenting the two of them together.
“Suddenly, I had two parents going through this process,” she said. “I wanted to spend time with them both. There’s no way to know how much time someone has.”
Borowick said she went to see her parents as much as possible and documented their trips to the hospital, at home and at Nancy’s wedding in October.
Her parents are in periods of obvious discomfort, but they also have moments of silliness and playfulness.
“I’ve realised the value of life. I’ve seen them live the best they can and enjoy the moments they have together,” she said. “They are both so strong. To me, that’s what I’ve noticed. I feel grateful we had this amount of time with them.”
The family has felt a void in the week since Howard passed away. There are still those little moments when it sinks in, like when the family realises they have set an extra place at the dinner table.
“My father was a big presence,” she said. “We’re still figuring out those moments. We’re a very close family.”
But as Laurel Borowick continues to fight her disease, her daughter plans to continue by her side and keep clicking away.
“I hope that people going through this, or who know people going through cancer, can get some strength or comfort,” she said. “To have people reach out to me and share their story has been very comforting. When you go through it, you can feel very alone like you’re the only one going through it. To have others help us not feel alone that helps us out a lot.”
