Ryan Parker photographed Julie Rohr for the cover of Leap, the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s magazine, in Spring 2020, and for the feature inside, Meet Julie Rohr, part of its Living with Cancer photo series.
The story
Meet Julie Rohr
Julie Rohr, an Edmonton native and a mother of two, was 33 when she was diagnosed in November 2015 with retroperitoneal leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft muscle tissue, and told it was incurable. Nearly five years on, she describes coming to treat it as a chronic illness to be managed through its highs and lows, and the good she has found along the way: a hospital roommate who makes her laugh, support groups that feel like family, the chance to counsel others. Gratitude, she says, keeps her going.
- Magazine
- Leap, the Alberta Cancer Foundation
- Issue
- Spring 2020
- Section
- Living with Cancer
- Cover line
- Living with Cancer
- Ran as
- The cover, and a two-page feature spread
- Words
- Jennifer Friesen
- Art direction
- Kim Larson
- Photographs
- Ryan Parker
As printed
The cover, and the pages.
01Leap, Spring 2020
The frames
The photographs, before the type.
01The photographs
How it got made
An afternoon at home.
This was one of my earlier editorial assignments, in March 2020, days before everything shut down. I photographed Julie at home, on her sofa in front of the bookshelves. We came in knowing her time and energy were precious, and wanting to take up as little of either as we could. Then she was so present and so full of energy that I was in awe of her. She was a wonderful person to spend the afternoon with.
Julie died in 2021.
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