J.R. Storment Shares Story About His Son Who Died

Tech executive J.R. Storment had spent most of his waking hours working, not devoting much time to family life. Unfortunately, his eight-year-old son Wiley died in August due to complications from epilepsy. J.R. decided to write an essay recounting the experience and how he’s been forced to rethink his life/work balance. He posted his story to LinkedIn, and it has since gone viral.

The essay, “It’s Later Than You Think,” describes both the moment J.R. Storment learned of his son’s death, and the feelings of regret that he’s had to deal with since the incident. His regrets fall into two categories: things he wished he had done differently, and the things Wiley did not get to do.

Storment makes clear how he’s been forced to rethink his relationship to work. His life had been more or less dominated by work when he co-founded the Portland, Oregon cloud company Cloudablity in 2011. He and his wife, Jessica Brandes, welcomed their twin boys Wiley and Oliver that same month eight years ago.

J.R. Storment laments not spending as much quality time with Wiley before Wiley died. He implores other working parents to consider how they choose to spend their time.

J.R. Storment and family with Wiley on the right
Credit: linkedin.com

“Many have asked what they can do to help,” Storment writes. “Hug your kids. Don’t work too late. A lot of the things you are likely spending your time on you’ll regret once you no longer have the time. I’m guessing you have 1:1 meetings on the books with a lot of people you work with. Do you have them regularly scheduled with your kids? If there’s any lesson to take away from this, it’s to remind others (and myself) not to miss out on the things that matter.”

Some of the more devastating parts of the essay revolve around the things Wiley wanted to do as an adult. He had an entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to start his own business someday. At different times he had ideas for a smoothie stand, a VR headset company, a “spaceship building” brand, and others. Wiley had even “decided” on the girl he was going to marry later in life. All of those things made losing him all the more brutal.

“Seeing his name written on the top of [the death certificate] was hard,” writes J.R. Storment. “However, two fields further down the form crushed me. The first said: ‘Occupation: Never worked’ and the next: ‘Marital Status: Never married.’ He wanted so badly to do both of those things. I feel both fortunate and guilty to have had success in each.”

A Heart-Wrenching Yet Poignant Story

The post on LinkedIn now has more than 44,000 “likes” and over 4,000 comments. Clearly, J.R. Storment’s story has affected thousands of people who offer their condolences and say how sorry they are to hear of the loss. 

One big takeaway after perusing the comment section is that J.R. Storment has made many people rethink their own lives and what they should focus on.

“So sorry for your loss, truly devastating. I will be hugging my boys a little tighter when I get home after work,” wrote one user.

“I cried when I read this. Couldn’t imagine losing my son. I doubtfully will ever forget this and will love my son deeper and hold him longer from here on, so thank you for sharing,” wrote another.

Obviously, J.R. Storment and his family will never get over Wiley’s death. He will be with them in one way or another for the rest of their lives. But perhaps they can take solace in the fact that their story has inspired many people to consider their own loved ones and rethink the ways in which they spend their time.

The death of a child has got to be one of the worst things a human can experience. Unfortunately, taking our loved ones’ time on earth for granted is a recurring theme in our society. The old adage continually rings true, as it always will: You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.