Richard is a physically active, adventure-loving 25-year-old who is also living with cancer. He was diagnosed three years ago and has endured several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.
As he brainstormed ideas for his Dear World portrait, he decided to tell a story about how he embraces life’s twists and turns and stays positive. Richard, his brother, and sister-in-law were traveling in Turkey during his cancer treatment, and they decided to rent some motorcycles to ride through the mountains from Antalya along the Mediterranean and then back. After a series of wrong turns, they realized that they were majorly lost. Their scheduled 2-hour trip turned into a 10-hour adventure. Richard explained that some people would be scared, upset, or worried about this, but he chose to see it as an adventure and absolutely loved their meandering ride through the mountains together.
Richard was one of 30 patients, friends and family who took part in a daylong storytelling workshop that Lauren Lux, our program director, recently organized in partnership with Dear World. Out of these stories of hope and struggle and resilience came 30 stunning portraits, each of which is both amazingly personal and a tribute to the power of family and community. Dear World will officially release the photos, as well as a short documentary they made while with us, in early summer.