You’re listening to TrachBaby It's a podcast about hope, inspiration, and action for the TrachBaby community. This is Episode 15 for May 2nd, 2021, Cori's Story Thanks for joining us today. We'll get into today's interview shortly, but first I wanted to provide a little background on the TrachBaby podcast. My wife and I originally started the TrachBaby Podcast to tell our son's story. After a few episodes we realized there were other parents with either similar or completely different stories and we wanted others to hear them because they provide value. Sometimes you may feel a bit lonely as a trach parent. You're scared and you may feel you're going it alone. That's not the case. There are people who understand and I invite you to come on the podcast to share you story. You can do that by going to TrachBaby.com and filling out the form. I am a trach parent. Our son John was trached at 6 months and just a few weeks back at 7 years old has been decannulated. We're fortunate he was never at the level of requiring to be on a vent at all times, but he needed one at night and when sleeping, in addition, he required the aid of a g-button. He still has that, but we're hopeful it will come out in a few weeks. I have a technical background in media production and felt a podcast would be a fairly simple, but effective way of telling stories. I do not distribute the TrachBaby podcast to make money. I've experimented using ads, specifically promoting Anchor, the service we use to distribute as they pay a small amount after several plays of their ad. I have also turned on the Supporter Feature which allows supporters to provide a donation if desired, and we've had one donation. All in all, after you add all of that, the Anchor Ads and the one donation from since we started back in 2020, we have $11.35 sitting in our Anchor account. When we do cash it out, it will likely go back to pay for a domain renewal of trachbaby.com or maybe a hosting fee. I want to emphasize, you don't have to donate, it's appreciated, but by no means expected. If you're looking for a place to give, consider your church, or maybe the local respite room or the equivalent of a Ronald McDonald House in your area. I say Ronald McDonald House because they helped us, but there are other groups who could benefit if you're looking to donate. We should be last on your list. Today we're talking with Melissa, who lives on the West Coast with her daughter Cori. Cori is now an adult in her 30s, and does require assistance, provided by her mother. Cori's mother, Melissa tells her story. Melissa has also authored a book titled "Surviving Life: Through Faith, Hope and Love" and you can find it on Amazon at the link. If you are now or have been the parent of a trach child, or perhaps you have or had a trach yourself and would like to be a guest on our show to help others, visit trachbaby.com and fill out the form. We hope today’s episode has helped in some way. Thank you for listening.
