My Brother David

“And so when life comes to the end, you start realizing that there are very few moments where someone is a good person or a bad person, but rather there are just choices that are made and hopefully those choices end up being right” - David Illiatovitch-Owen

 

David is 48 and lives in Toronto with his wife, two kids, and two dogs. He is a small business owner, the father of two, a second degree black belt in Hapkido, has never listened to a podcast and is dying of pancreatic cancer.

 

His little sister Sarah is 37 and lives in Chicago with her husband, three kids, and cat. She is an artist, educator, activist, grief worker, trauma informed practitioner, avid podcast listener and desperate to be of some use to her big brother.

 

David is in pain, on drugs, and doesn’t know what to do with his time. Sarah suggests he listens to podcasts. David suggests (then insists) they make one.  

 

And so begins Sarah and David’s hilarious, irreverent and unflinching journey to follow the ups and downs of David’s disease. How long does David have left? Does Sarah’s background with grief work help at all when grief hits so close to home? What are protein numbers? How does one use a microphone? Is the minimum wage too low or too high? Will the Blue Jays ever win the World Series? Is that gas or diarrhea? What does life look like when you know you’re going to die?

 

As Sarah grapples with the challenges of her own grief, her relationship with her brother, and how to make a podcast, David’s no-holds-barred personality illuminates how to look death squarely in the face.