- [Joel] My neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska,
is where the Photo Ark started,
right here at the Lincoln Children's Zoo.
- Joel!
- Sean, how are you, bud?
The first thing I shot here
was the least likely animal you can imagine:
the naked mole rat.
They're about blind, aren't they?
- [Sean] They are blind because they're subterranean.
- [Joel] Look at that.
They never quit moving around.
- No, scientists actually studying the naked mole rat
as to why they are immune to cancer.
The secret for curing humans from cancer
could be hidden in these strange little naked rats
with huge buck teeth.
- Isn't that amazing? - You never know.
Hence, the importance of preserving wild life.
- [Joel] Yeah.
- It may be there, the cure for cancer.
- I had no idea.
Learning about the naked mole rats' resistance
to cancer really hits home for me.
Because cancer's why The Photo Ark got started
in the first place.
When I first started working for the Geographic,
I did a lot of, well, I did a lot of stories
they assigned me to.
It could be a story on Connecticut or Federal Land Use
in the American West or just anything.
And then Cathy got really sick.
- It's been ten years ago now.
Just before Thanksgiving, I was diagnosed with breast
cancer and at the time, we had, you know,
three little kids and we didn't know how it'd go.
- She was on chemo and radiation for the better part
of a year and so I was grounded.
I was home for the first time in many, many years.
- He was home that whole time so he really did
step up and take care of the kids,
become Mr. Mom.
- I don't think I'd change a diaper
even on the littlest one.
He was two.
So I was pretty terrified.
I was afraid that she was going to die.
I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to raise children.
I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to pay our mortgage
or pay our bills because I'd made all my living
doing day rates, shooting by the day
for National Geographic Magazine and that all
came to a screeching halt.
One thing that happened is I had a lot of time
to think during the day when Cathy was asleep.
I'd have a lot of time to think about what to do with
the rest of my life.
I was 43.
- And so he was at a loss for what to do.
He started taking stock pictures of vegetables
and plants or flowers, whatever.
I guess he ran out of things to take pictures of
around the house so he went to,
just down the street at our local zoo.
- On the days that Cathy felt better,
I went to the Lincoln Children Zoo
and started doing pictures.
It started with a naked mole rat.
Did a couple of poison dart frogs.
I did their turtles and their snakes and pretty soon,
before you knew it, I photographed every animal
at the zoo and then I went on to the Omaha Zoo,
which has one of the biggest collections in the world.
Eventually got everything they had.
Then I went to Kansas City and Sioux Falls
and Oklahoma City and Houston and Des Moines
and Denver and Minneapolis.
Just every place I could drive to in my Prius
and got everything they had.
- Since I was feeling pretty good and he was back on track,
he thought, I'm going to pursue this
and it ended up being The Photo Ark.
(soothing music)
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