Well, That Got Medical ™

Amanda Holyoak
  • 4.9 (14)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Weekly

Well, That Got Medical™: A Holyoaks Rise™ Podcast When life gets medical, families are often left trying to understand a world they never expected to enter. Hosted by Amanda Holyoak, BSN, RNC-NIC, CNBE-H—a NICU nurse, medical mom, and mother of five—Well, That Got Medical™ brings together honest stories from people who have lived it, helpful answers from people who know it, and practical conversations about figuring it out along the way. From the NICU and medically complex parenting to rare diagnoses, chronic illness, disability, caregiving, advocacy, family relationships, and life after crisis, this podcast explores both the medical realities and the deeply human experience behind them. You’ll hear: • Lived It — honest stories from patients, parents, siblings, and caregivers
• Know It — approachable guidance from healthcare professionals and experts
• Figure It Out — practical help for navigating appointments, decisions, resources, relationships, and everyday medical-family life
• Rise — meaningful stories of resilience, identity, purpose, and rebuilding after the unexpected This is not about pretending hard things are easy or wrapping every story in a perfect ending. It is about helping medical families feel informed, understood, and less alone. Stories from people who’ve lived it. Answers from people who know it. Let’s figure it out together. Well, That Got Medical™ is part of Holyoaks Rise™—Medical Families Rising Together. 🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday.

  1. 2d ago

    33) Diamond-Blackfan Anemia, CVID & a Bone Marrow Transplant | McKindree’s Story of Hope, Part 1

    Mckindree is a BEAUTIFUL soul! Such hope and strength that I hope touches the hearts of those who need it. McKindree and her family traveled across the country looking for answers. Living with Diamond-Blackfan anemia and common variable immune deficiency (CVID), meant blood transfusions every three weeks and another treatment every month starting at age 11. Eventually, she needed a bone marrow transplant. What followed was harrowing: a ten-month hospital stay, three months she remembers very little of, and several times when she nearly died. In her words, just about everything that could go wrong did. McKindree was a teenager—old enough to understand that what was happening was serious, but still young enough to struggle with what it could mean for the rest of her life. In Part 1, she shares the trauma of that experience, what she and her family endured, and what it was like to grow up afterward. She also talks about having her eggs harvested in the hope of building a family someday. Part 2 picks up as McKindree and her husband begin planning that future together next week on “Well, That Got Medical.” TM Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

  2. Sep 23

    32) Well, That Got Medical: A New Chapter for Medical Families

    There’s a new name and new artwork in your podcast feed: Holyoaks Rise is becoming Well, That Got Medical: A Holyoaks Rise Podcast. Why the change? After talking with medical families and experts—and living on both sides of the bedside as a NICU nurse and medical mom—I’ve gotten clearer about who this show is here to serve. In this episode, I share what “Well, That Got Medical” means, why a diagnosis or medical event can change life for an entire family, and why Holyoaks Rise remains the heart behind the podcast. Medical families come in all varieties. You might be navigating the NICU, chronic illness, disability, rare disease, mental health needs, complex care, or caregiving. Whatever brought you here, I want this to be a place where you can bring the questions you’re trying to figure out. Going forward, you’ll hear stories from people who’ve lived it, answers from people who know it, and conversations that help us figure things out together. There’s still room for resilience, humor, hope, and the many ways families rise through the unexpected. If you’re new here, welcome. If you’ve been listening since Holyoaks Rise began, I’m glad you’re coming with me. Follow for more rise stories. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    32) Well, That Got Medical: A New Chapter for Medical Families

  3. Sep 8

    31) When the Crisis Is Over..but You’re Not: The Aftermath of Hard Things

    What happens when the crisis is finally over… but you don’t feel okay yet? We spend so much time talking about how to survive hard things that we rarely talk about what happens afterward. The hospital stay ends. The baby comes home. Treatment is finished. The divorce is final. The caregiving season changes. You make it through burnout, grief, job loss, financial hardship, a major life transition, or simply a season that took more out of you than you expected. Everyone else moves on—but sometimes you’re still living in the aftermath. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected, Amanda explores the emotional and practical aftermath of difficult seasons: delayed emotions, exhaustion, unexpected triggers, changed relationships, lingering responsibilities, and the strange realization that surviving something and recovering from it are two very different things. We talk about why you can be grateful and still struggle, why emotions sometimes show up after the emergency has passed, why “getting back to normal” isn’t always the goal, and what it can actually look like to rebuild after life doesn’t go according to plan. This episode also marks a broader chapter for Holyoaks Rise. While Amanda’s experiences as a NICU nurse, medical mom, adoptive mom, and caregiver will always be part of the show, Holyoaks Rise is about something bigger: resilience in all its forms. Going forward, we’ll explore inspiring true stories, remarkable people from history, the science and psychology of resilience, medical and caregiving experiences, family and relationships, failure and starting over, unexpected life transitions, and conversations with people who have faced something they never planned for—and found a way forward. Because the unexpected isn’t only medical. It can be losing something you thought was permanent. Starting over when you thought you’d have life figured out by now. Facing a fear. Caring for someone you love. Watching a dream change. Failing. Rebuilding. Discovering a strength you didn’t know you had. Or simply waking up one day and realizing: This is not how I thought my life was going to go. The circumstances may be different, but the question at the heart of Holyoaks Rise remains the same: What happened when life didn’t go according to plan—and how did you rise? If you’re navigating the aftermath of a hard season, recovering from burnout or a crisis, adjusting to a major life change, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for stories of hope and human resilience, this episode is for you. Because sometimes the rise doesn’t happen during the crisis. Sometimes the crisis ends, everyone goes home—and that’s where the rise begins. 🎙️ Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected Hosted by Amanda Holyoak

  4. Sep 2

    30) CDH Baby, Breast Milk & a Mom Who Wouldn’t Stop Asking Questions | Blair’s Story

    When Blair’s baby was diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), she entered a world of NICU care, specialists, feeding challenges, and questions she never expected to have to answer. But when her daughter began struggling with breast milk, Blair noticed something wasn’t adding up—and she kept asking questions. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected, Blair shares her experience as the mom of a medically complex baby receiving specialized CDH care at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida. She talks about navigating her daughter’s CDH journey, the challenges surrounding feeding and breast milk, and the research that eventually led her to Milkify. Through Milkify, Blair was able to have her breast milk freeze-dried and receive nutritional information about her milk—giving her and her daughter’s medical team another piece of the puzzle. What started as one mom searching for a way to help her own baby became something bigger. Blair’s experience helped spark conversations within her daughter’s hospital and ultimately contributed to a policy change. We talk about: ​ What it’s like having a baby diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)• Navigating the NICU and specialized CDH care• Breast milk and feeding challenges with a medically complex baby• How Blair discovered Milkify• The nutritional information she received about her breast milk• Learning to research, question, and advocate as a medical parent• Partnering with your child’s healthcare team• How one parent’s persistence can help create change for families who come nextAnd the timing of Blair’s story feels especially meaningful because September is NICU Awareness Month. Behind every NICU baby is a family learning terminology they never expected to know, sitting through rounds, watching monitors, asking questions, researching late at night, and becoming an advocate for someone they love more than anything. Blair’s story is a beautiful example of that. She didn’t start out trying to change a hospital policy. She was simply a mom trying to understand what her daughter needed. She noticed. She asked. She researched. And she kept going. This NICU Awareness Month, Blair’s story reminds us that parents aren’t just standing beside the NICU bed—they can be an incredibly important part of the care team. And sometimes one parent asking, “Could there be another way?” can help make things better for the families who come after them. Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected shares real stories of resilience, medical motherhood, caregiving, healthcare, and ordinary people navigating circumstances they never expected—and finding a way to rise through them. 🎙️ Follow Holyoaks Rise for more stories of people rising through the unexpected. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ I8h8

  5. Aug 25

    29) How to Bond With Your Baby in the NICU — Even When You Don’t Feel Like Mom Yet

    What if you love your baby deeply… but you don’t feel like their mom yet? Bonding with your baby in the NICU can look very different from the picture you had in your head. Instead of immediate skin-to-skin and uninterrupted newborn snuggles, there may be incubators, monitors, respiratory support, procedures, nurses, and days—or even weeks—before parenting begins to feel the way you expected. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected, Amanda Holyoak talks about NICU bonding, attachment, and the emotional reality of becoming a parent in the NICU—including something many parents are afraid to admit: sometimes the connection isn’t instant. You’ll hear practical, gentle ways to bond with your premature or medically fragile baby, even when holding, feeding, or caring for them normally isn’t possible. We’ll talk about skin-to-skin care, touch, your voice, scent, participating in cares, pumping and feeding, and the small everyday moments that can help you begin to feel like your baby’s parent—not just a visitor in the NICU. Most importantly, this episode is a reminder that bonding isn’t one magical moment. It’s a relationship built over time. Whether your baby is premature, medically complex, or spending unexpected time in the neonatal intensive care unit, there are still ways to know them, comfort them, advocate for them, and build connection—even from beside an isolette. In this episode: ● How to bond with a baby in the NICU ● Why NICU parents may struggle to feel connected ● Bonding when you can’t hold or feed your baby ● Skin-to-skin and other ways to build attachment ● Finding your role as a NICU mom or dad ● Letting go of guilt when bonding takes time ● Small ways to parent your baby from the very beginning 🎙️ Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected
Stories, resources, and hope for NICU families, medical parents, caregivers, and anyone learning to rise through something they never expected. Follow Holyoaks Rise for more NICU support, medical-parenting resources, and stories of resilience and hope. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ I8h8

    29) How to Bond With Your Baby in the NICU — Even When You Don’t Feel Like Mom Yet

  6. Aug 18

    28) Your Baby’s Gut Microbiome: What We’re Learning About a Healthy Start | Dr. Stephanie Culler

    What are scientists discovering about the infant gut microbiome—and what could it mean for our understanding of lifelong health? In Episode 28 of Holyoaks Rise, Amanda sits down with Stephanie Culler, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Persephone Biosciences, to explore the fascinating world developing inside a baby’s gut during the earliest stages of life. Dr. Culler breaks down what the gut microbiome actually is, how it develops in babies, and why researchers are studying its possible connections to the immune system, allergies, digestion, autoimmune disease, and other areas of health. We also talk about the My Baby Biome study, a large-scale research effort designed to better understand the infant microbiome and how factors during early life may shape it. Most importantly, this isn’t a conversation about getting everything “right” in those first few months. It’s about how much scientists are still learning—and how research like this may help us better understand and support children’s health in the future. Whether you’re a new parent, NICU parent, medical parent, healthcare professional, or simply fascinated by the science happening inside our bodies, this episode makes the complex world of the microbiome approachable, hopeful, and incredibly interesting. 🎙️ Episode 28: Your Baby’s Gut Microbiome: What We’re Learning About a Healthy Start | Dr. Stephanie Culler Topics include: infant gut microbiome, baby gut health, newborn microbiome, infant health research, My Baby Biome study, microbiome research, immune health, allergies, autoimmune disease, early childhood health, and medical parenting. A Special Thank You to Persephone Biosciences A huge thank you to Dr. Stephanie Culler and Persephone Biosciences for joining Holyoaks Rise and sharing their research with us! If you’d like to learn more about Persephone Biosciences or explore their infant and toddler synbiotics, visit Persephone.bio. 🎁 Holyoaks Rise listeners can receive 30% off their first subscription with code: HOLYOAKS30 You can also follow Persephone Biosciences on Instagram and TikTok at @persephoneb.bio. Thank you to Stephanie and the Persephone team for helping families better understand the fascinating science of the infant microbiome—and for sharing that work with the Holyoaks Rise community. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribut(ion 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

    28) Your Baby’s Gut Microbiome: What We’re Learning About a Healthy Start | Dr. Stephanie Culler

  7. Aug 12

    27) The People Who Keep Showing Up: The Quiet Strength of Caregivers

    Who takes care of the person who is always taking care of everyone else? Caregivers are everywhere—the parents managing medications and appointments, the nurses walking families through their hardest days, the foster parents who keep saying yes, and the spouses, grandparents, siblings, teachers, therapists, friends, and neighbors who quietly step in when someone needs them. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise, Amanda reflects on what nearly two decades as a NICU nurse—and life on the other side of the hospital bed as a medical mom—has taught her about the people who keep showing up. We’re talking about the beautiful, exhausting, sometimes hilarious reality of caregiving: the accidental medical expertise, the ability to hear a monitor alarm from another zip code, the emotional weight no one sees, caregiver burnout, and the small acts of kindness families remember forever. But there’s another question we don’t ask enough: Who takes care of the caregiver? This episode is a tribute to the ordinary people doing extraordinary things without ever calling themselves heroes—and a reminder that rising doesn’t always mean doing it alone. Sometimes we rise because someone reaches down and helps us up. And sometimes, we’re the one doing the reaching. If someone came to mind while listening, send the text. Make the call. Tell them: “You probably don’t even remember this…but I do.” Topics include: caregiving, caregiver burnout, medical parenting, NICU families, nurses, foster parents, medically complex children, compassion, resilience, and finding support through hard seasons. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribut(ion 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

  8. Aug 5

    26) She Kept Saying Yes | Fostering Medically Complex Children (Part 3) Krystina’s story

    In the final chapter of Krystina’s incredible story, we continue the journey of a family that never stopped saying “yes.” After sharing the story of her medically complex son, Krystina introduces us to another little girl who came into their family with severe congenital heart disease and complex medical needs, requiring numerous surgeries and specialized care. Through every challenge, Krystina shares what it really looks like to love children whose journeys are anything but easy. But her impact doesn’t stop inside her own home. In this episode, you’ll also hear how Krystina turned her family’s experiences into service for others by creating A.M.O.R.E. (Assisting Medical Outreach Resources and Equipment), a nonprofit that provides free donated medical supplies and equipment to families when insurance falls short or resources simply aren’t available. She also started free, inclusive monthly birthday parties so medically complex children, children with disabilities, neurodivergent kids, and their siblings all have a place to celebrate together—because every child deserves to feel included. This conversation is a beautiful reminder that even in the hardest seasons, we can create hope for someone else. In this episode: ● Fostering and adopting children with complex medical needs ● Congenital heart disease and life after multiple surgeries ● Creating AMORE to support medical families ● Inclusive birthday parties for children of all abilities ● Advocacy, resilience, and building community ● Finding purpose through life’s hardest experiences If Krystina’s story encouraged you, please share this episode with someone who could use a reminder that compassion can change lives—one family at a time. Warm Memories - Emotional Inspiring Piano by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribut(ion 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

See All (33)

4.9
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Well, That Got Medical™: A Holyoaks Rise™ Podcast When life gets medical, families are often left trying to understand a world they never expected to enter. Hosted by Amanda Holyoak, BSN, RNC-NIC, CNBE-H—a NICU nurse, medical mom, and mother of five—Well, That Got Medical™ brings together honest stories from people who have lived it, helpful answers from people who know it, and practical conversations about figuring it out along the way. From the NICU and medically complex parenting to rare diagnoses, chronic illness, disability, caregiving, advocacy, family relationships, and life after crisis, this podcast explores both the medical realities and the deeply human experience behind them. You’ll hear: • Lived It — honest stories from patients, parents, siblings, and caregivers
• Know It — approachable guidance from healthcare professionals and experts
• Figure It Out — practical help for navigating appointments, decisions, resources, relationships, and everyday medical-family life
• Rise — meaningful stories of resilience, identity, purpose, and rebuilding after the unexpected This is not about pretending hard things are easy or wrapping every story in a perfect ending. It is about helping medical families feel informed, understood, and less alone. Stories from people who’ve lived it. Answers from people who know it. Let’s figure it out together. Well, That Got Medical™ is part of Holyoaks Rise™—Medical Families Rising Together. 🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday.

Information