243 episodes

When pediatrician mom of three, Marcy Larson's 14 yo son, Andy, was killed in a car accident in 2018, she felt like her life was over. In many ways, that life was over, and a new one forced to begin in its place. Come alongside her as she works through this journey of healing. She discusses grief and child loss with other grieving parents and those who work to help them in their grief. This podcast is for grieving parents and well as those who support them.

Losing a Child: Always Andy's Mom Marcy Larson, MD

    • Health & Fitness

When pediatrician mom of three, Marcy Larson's 14 yo son, Andy, was killed in a car accident in 2018, she felt like her life was over. In many ways, that life was over, and a new one forced to begin in its place. Come alongside her as she works through this journey of healing. She discusses grief and child loss with other grieving parents and those who work to help them in their grief. This podcast is for grieving parents and well as those who support them.

    Episode 245: Zachary's Dad

    Episode 245: Zachary's Dad

    Today's guest, Jason, has always felt a bit unique as a dad. Early in their marriage, Jason and his wife decided that when they had children, he would be the stay-at-home parent. I was actually surprised to learn that 1 in 5 stay-at-home parents are now stay-at-home dads. What makes Jason's story more unique, however, is that both of his children had special needs. When someone is the primary caregiver of a special needs child, it often becomes a huge part of their identity so when their child dies, a part of them feels like it dies as well.
     
    When Jason's son, Zachary, unexpectedly died of sepsis, Jason suddenly felt alone. Like many of the moms of special needs children whom I have interviewed over the past year, Jason felt very isolated. Jason turned to social media to find others who were suffering the same pain and grief. He longed to find other dads to talk with, but couldn't seem to find any. He became involved in many Facebook groups and found that he would be one of the only men who would regularly contribute.
     
    On the advice of a therapist, Jason began to write out his feelings. They were raw and unfiltered letters to his son, Zachery. He imagined that someday he would simply throw them out, but instead decided to ask to post them on a bereaved parent's Facebook page. The feedback he received was so overwhelming that he eventually decided to make his own social media accounts. He entitled his Facebook page 'Letters to Zachary.'
     
    Jason's 'Letters to Zachary' Facebook page now has almost 1000 followers. He says that his purpose is two-fold. First, he wants to show other bereaved dads that it is not only ok but good to open up and share the feelings that they have related to grief and loss. The second purpose is to give women some insight into the mind of a bereaved dad. He hopes that his sharing may help women understand the grieving men in their lives just a little bit better. Hopefully, the discussions that Jason starts can help couples better understand each other as they grieve together.
     
     

    • 1 hr 8 min
    Episode 244: Jakey's Mom

    Episode 244: Jakey's Mom

    When today's guest, Heather, lost her precious 4-year-old son, Jake, 13 years ago, her life was turned upside-down. Jake (or Jakey as he was often called) was medically fragile and suffered from chronic seizures, as well as additional medical complications, but Heather never allowed herself to think that he would die. Heather left her job as a special ed teacher and dedicated her life to making Jake's life the best it could be. Shortly after Jake died, Heather and her family realized that not everyone had the resources and skills to help their own medically complex kids. They started a non-profit organization called Jake's Help from Heaven. The nonprofit works with families to provide items not covered by insurance that will give them opportunities to thrive. Some items are big and life-changing and others are quite small, but their goal is to come from a 'place of yes' to help every family possible.
     
    As rewarding as the organization has been, Heather found that much of her time had to be dedicated to planning fundraising events instead of spending time with the families. This made Heather begin to think about trying to do things differently. What if instead of sponsoring numerous events throughout the year, they simply asked their donors for money and used their time and energy to tell stories instead? These stories have become 'The Place of Yes' podcast. Some of these stories are about Jake and their family and others are about the families Jake's Help from Heaven had assisted. Still others are about people living in grief each day. All of these stories, however, are about people using their grief for good.
     
    When Heather thought about having to move forward after the devastating loss of Jake, she discovered this about herself. She says on her podcast, "All I can say is, you can dig deep, figure out where you are, and figure out where you want to be, and for me, I found the answer was in a place of yes." She longs to make the world a better place for chronically ill children and now for grieving families as well. Through the nonprofit, and now the podcast, I know that she will do just that.

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Episode 243: Preston's Mom

    Episode 243: Preston's Mom

    "What now?"
     
    This is the question that today's guest Bridget asked herself after she and her family made the difficult decision to remove her 28-year-old son, Preston, from life support following his car accident while on a trip to Florida. Bridget had watched her own mother live through the nightmare of child loss when Bridget's 13-year-old brother died. She had lived in a broken family and had felt a bit like a forgotten mourner. She was determined to be there for her boys in their grief in a way that her mother had been unable to do.
     
    A few months before Preston died, Bridget's dad passed away. Bridget's mom had planned for the family to take a trip into the mountains of northern Arizona to honor his life. After they lost Preston, the plan changed so that they would honor both. Before the trip could happen, however, tragedy struck again and Bridget's mother died. Bridget and her mom had gathered items to make charms for other family members who would be running in a race initially to honor their father/grandfather, but now were honoring all three. Bridget went on to make 10 of these charms that the family brought to northern Arizona. Bridget never planned to make more than these ten charms, but fate had other plans.
     
    Years after making those first charms, Bridget found herself in a deep hole. She was drinking heavily and doing everything that she vowed that she would not do after losing Preston. She made a decision to change her life and quit drinking. She thought about those 10 charms and about how therapeutic it was for her to make them. She decided to start making more, leaving them in places where others could find them and learn a little about Preston. She hoped that they could bring a little peace to others who were hurting.
     
    Now, Preston's Charms have traveled the world. She says that she has now made over 1000 charms and has been told many stories about how a charm was found by just the right person at the right time. She has even written a book about Preston's life including stories of others who have been comforted by the charms. To learn more or to order your own, visit prestonscharm.com.
     
     

    • 58 min
    Episode 242: Grandparent Grief

    Episode 242: Grandparent Grief

    When a listener suggested that we talk about grandparents and grief, I thought that it would be a good topic for one of my Livestream episodes with Gwen, but I never realized how much I would learn myself. As you all know, Andy's 20th birthday was last week so I did not prep as much as I normally do for Livestream episodes. I did not have days of questions being posted for listeners in the week ahead of the broadcast. I posted all of the questions once on Facebook and Instagram and no comments were left at all. I had one beautiful email response to the questions that I shared on social media, but besides that, I had nothing prepared. I knew that Gwen would have a lot to contribute as she always does, but I was a little worried about my lack of preparation.
     
    When sharing my struggles with my dear friend, Dana, Brogan's Mom, she said that she would see if her parents would be willing to be guests on the Livestream. They graciously accepted our invitation. I think it was meant to be that I didn't have a lot prepared because listening to Grandma Shirley and Papa Mike was just what I needed to do. Hearing them talk about their struggles as grandparents taught me so much and made me think about my own family as well. I know that Dana learned things about her parents' grief that she never knew before as well, and it helped spark further conversation long after the Livestream ended.
     
    If you normally listen to the podcast by yourself, this might be one episode that you'll want to listen to with your family. I hope that listening to Dana's family be vulnerable and open may help other families do the same. As loving families, it is natural that we want to protect each other, but sometimes that protection creates walls around us and instead of grieving together, we all grieve alone instead. I pray that this episode will help families knock down some of those walls.
     
    We are also honoring Peter and Taylor (from Episode 215: TT's Mom). Andrea honored me with the gift of memorial donations after the recent death of Peter, her amazing husband - enough for 9 months of podcast production. I am truly humbled.

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Episode 241: Taylor's Gift Mom

    Episode 241: Taylor's Gift Mom

    Tara's teen daughter, Taylor was the kind of friend who made others feel like they were the most special person in the room. When Taylor tragically died in 2010 in a skiing accident, Tara says that the easiest decision that the family had to make was when they were asked, 'Your daughter is a beautiful candidate for organ donation; would you consider it?'
    They knew their loving, caring daughter would never hesitate to help others so they did not hesitate either. Tara wanted her daughter to be a gift to others. The family knew that by making this decision, they would be able to give total strangers the gift of time, the gift of memories, and the gift of experiences. That decision blessed five people in the coming days, and Taylor's family has had the privilege to meet 4 of the 5 recipients.
    Tara and her husband quickly started Taylor's Gift, a foundation in their home state of Texas, that focused on helping increase numbers of people volunteering to be organ donors. They asked the question, 'How do you want to outlive yourself?' People often do not want to talk to their loved ones about organ donation. They feel it is taboo to talk about death and organ donation, They do not realize that organ donation isn't about death. It is about blessing others with the gift of life.
    A second goal of the foundation is surrounding grief support. Donor families are in a very unique position. They most often lose their family member suddenly and are in extreme pain. At the same time, the families have a sense of gratefulness that they were able to help save the lives of others. These mixed emotions can be difficult to understand. Taylor's Gift offers certified one-on-one peer professional support as well as support groups with caring guides who have all suffered similar losses.
    Over the last 14 years, Taylor has not only helped the lives of those original five recipients. Taylor's Gift has blessed hundreds upon hundreds by either starting the conversation of organ donation between family members or walking beside families after they have given the gift of donation. I know these blessings will continue to build.

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Episode 240: Josh's Mom

    Episode 240: Josh's Mom

    I have a confession to make. This is a hard week for me. In three days, we will have to 'celebrate' Andy's 20th birthday. I have been thinking all week about what a 20-year-old Andy would be like. Would he have decided on a career path? Would he be dating a special girl? Would he still show some of his inner silliness? I'm sure that instead of me kissing the top of his head, he would be tall enough to kiss the top of mine. I'd like to think we would be headed out to visit him at college this weekend to make his birthday special.
    Of course, I will never know the answers to any of these questions, and I feel that deep, excruciating pain once again. I walked upstairs tonight and tried to imagine for a second that I could go back in time and live my old life with my complete family for just one night. I have cried multiple times every day this week. Very few people at work or in my social circle have any idea that I am struggling. As I facilitated my support groups this week, there were moments when I could not even speak. I had trouble driving in traffic yesterday fearing another accident. All in all, I would describe myself as being a 'hot mess'.
    This is why this week's guest, Ann, is like a breath of fresh air for me. Each week, before I release a new podcast, I listen to the episode from beginning to end. Ann was the perfect person to listen to this week. She has a caring spirit that flows out of her. She is open to talking about her struggles after losing her amazing son, Josh, but even in her struggles, she is an encouragement to me. After losing Josh, Ann turned to writing to help her in her grief. Her initial posts were written just for her, but more recently, Ann has posted her writings on her blog, annyarrowblog.wordpress.com. The more she writes, the more others reach out to tell her how much she is helping them in their grief.
    By listening to Ann tonight, she reminds me that I am loved by God and many others around me. She shows me I do not have to hide or be ashamed of my feelings. I may still be a 'hot mess', but that is OK. Even when broken, we can all offer love and support to each other.

    • 55 min

Top Podcasts In Health & Fitness

Snoop Dogg Nipsey Hussle CradiB Lil Wayne
DJXL DaC001
Swinger
Anne-Kirstine Dyrvig, Podads
Talking Dirty with Rebecca Love
Adult Film Star Network
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
iHeartPodcasts
Wisdom & Wellness with Mpoomy Ledwaba
Africa Podcast Network
El Podcast de Marco Antonio Regil
Sonoro | Marco Antonio Regil

You Might Also Like

Grief Out Loud
The Dougy Center
Grief is a Sneaky Bitch
Lisa Keefauver, MSW
Hope After Child Loss
The Empty Chair Endeavor
Good Mourning
Sally Douglas and Imogen Carn
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Mel Robbins
Dear Gabby
Dear Media