Dying for Sex spotlights an often overlooked role - the caregiver

THREE KEY FACTS: TV show Dying for Sex highlights the often overlooked role of caregivers in cancer storylines. The show centres on Nikki’s experience, portraying the emotional and physical toll of caregiving. Jenny Slate’s portrayal of Nikki has resonated with many caregivers, emphasising their sacrifices and challenges.

Showing up for someone with cancer can make it hard to show up for much else. Jenny Slate’s performance in the TV series doesn’t sugarcoat it. On my 32nd birthday, I threw my whole birthday cake in the garbage.

It was already, hands down, the worst birthday of my life. I’d been in Minnesota for much of the year, living at my parents’ house while my mom underwent treatment for metastatic bile-duct cancer. Today, she napped in the next room, her oxygen tank humming quietly in the corner of our kitchen.

She’d just been admitted to home hospice care. My husband of three months was 1930km away, packing up the apartment we’d essentially abandoned in New York for a move we’d scheduled before her cancer took a turn for the worse..