‘The Good Place’ Star William Jackson Harper Opens Up About His Father’s Leukemia Battle; The Challenge Of Discussing Cancer With Kids

The Good Place star’s father was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 31. Although Harper was young at the time, he can recall how the diagnosis put his family in a “weird holding pattern.”

"My dad was diagnosed when I was 2, and my sister either had just been born or was about to be born, and so they actually didn’t think he was going to be around for most of my childhood,” Harper said. “They gave him under two years that he was gonna survive with his condition, and so the fact that he lived for six after the diagnosis was really kind of a weird anomaly."

Harper's father did not let the diagnosis stop him from accomplishing things before saying goodbye.

"He and my mom worked their a**es off,” Harper said. “They wanted to get us into a house before… he knew his time was coming.”

Harper said they moved into their new home around Halloween 1987, and his dad had passed away in the summer 1988. Harper was just eight years old, but he remembers how well his family handled the situation.

"My parents really navigated that in a way that I could not imagine," Harper said. "They were transparent about like, ‘dad might go away,’ but that's not what life was about… I think for him, he was like ‘okay, well I don’t have long, so every day's gotta count,’ and it did."

When a Parent is Diagnosed with Cancer

Explaining cancer to children is often one of the biggest challenges parents face while struggling through their diagnosis. Thoughts about dying and leaving their children alone can be harder than the parent’s diagnosis itself.

Telling Your Kids You Have Cancer ‘When it Comes to Your Kids, You Want to Protect Them’

In a previous interview, breast cancer survivor Gina de Givenchy shared her experience of telling her 12-year-old daughter that she had cancer.

“I felt it was important to mask it because I really wanted her to know that I was going to be OK,” she tells SurvivorNet. “I didn’t want her to see me weak and sickly… when it comes to your kids, I think you always want to sort of protect them.”

RELATED: "I Don't Want to Move On; I Do Want To Move Forward": Doug Wendt On Being A Caregiver and Tragically Losing His Wife to Ovarian Cancer

Losing a Loved One to Cancer

Opening up to friends like Harper did on the podcast can be a powerful way to cope after losing a loved one to cancer. There are no right or wrong ways to grieve, but there are always things you can do to help yourself through the journey. Therapy and support groups can be wonderful places to start.

"Therapy Saved My Life": After Losing A Loved One, Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

Camila Legaspi was in high school when she lost her mother to breast cancer. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, she told us that having someone there to simply talk things through with made a huge difference in her emotional journey.

"Therapy saved my life," she said. "I was dealing with some really intense anxiety and depression at that point. It just changed my life because I was so drained by all the negativity that was going on. Going to a therapist helped me realize that there was still so much out there for me… that I still had my family, that I still had my siblings."

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