Tara is our last guest for season 3, and her story is an incredible one to end on. Tara speaks with us about losing her daughter, Taylor in a skiing accident. Tara and her family were able to give the gift of life through donating Taylor's organs. They then decided to help form a support group for families who grieve the death of a loved one and also educate about the importance of organ donation. Tara and her husband founded their organization, Taylor's Gift. Their slogan is - Outlive Yourself. We found Tara to be inspiring and uplifting. To go through the loss of a child and to continue to build from that loss is extraordinary. We hope you love her episode!

AnneMoss shares with us how she tragically lost her 20 year old son to suicide and what her grief journey was like trying to move forward from that loss.

AnneMoss did such an amazing job at articulating her thoughts and feelings about what life has been like after going through such a tragedy. She takes you a long on her journey as she describes the pain that she has felt and the questions that arose with losing her son.

AnneMoss is an incredible woman who has a story to tell so that she can help others, and we are honored to have her share her story on our platform.

20 years ago Heidi lost her 5 year old daughter Alison, to a brain tumor. She walks us through what life was like before Alison's diagnosis, and what happened throughout her life after Alison passed away. Heidi is definitely making lemonade with her lemons. She chose to keep moving forward and to honor Alison through living her own life and fulfilling what matters most to her.

Heidi has made some big changes in her career and location. She worked in public affairs advising on health care policy in a variety of positions including the Idaho Director of Government Affairs for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. 8 years after losing her daughter and realizing she had some good tools & resources to share with others she founded 'Ohana Oasis' in hopes to help others work through their grief & loss through retreats.

Talking with Heidi was so uplifting. We are so happy that she shared her story and wisdom on our podcast. We hope that you guys love this episode as much as we did.

http://ohanaoasis.org

Chris and Ashley share their story with us about their daughter, Genevieve. Genevieve left this world 15 months ago, which also left a lot of unanswered questions for her parents. As Chris and Ashley have sifted through journals and Genevieve's phone, they have discovered a lot, which led to even more questions.

In this episode, Chris and Ashley share with us so many things about suicide and what kids are going through at such young ages. They also share a medication that Genevieve was using for asthma called Montelukast (Singulair). Like every medication, there are side effects, but one of the side effects of Montelukast (Singulair) is suicide ideation. This is a new side effect that has just been made public by the Black Box Warning issued by the FDA. At the time of Genevieve's passing, they had no idea that this was a side effect. It is not on the box, you have to do some digging to find ALL of the side effects of this medicine.

Chris and Ashley are on a mission to educate while bringing awareness and love to those suffering. We are so proud and feel so honored to be able to share their story with all of you.

Diane Nienas is our guest on this week's episode, and she is an incredible woman who has gone through losing 2 children in different ways.

At age 2 her son Leo was diagnosed with leukodystrophy. He went from happy and healthy to quickly losing the functioning of his body.

Her son, Trent was diagnosed with Glioblastoma at the age of 26. Another devastating outcome for their family.

Because of Diane's experiences she has written 2 books. A memoir entitled, "I see Jesus", and a children's book, "Living Life With Leo."

You can find more information about Diane at her website, www.thebreathoflight.com

We loved recording with Diane, and feel lucky that she shared her story on our podcast so we could share it with the world. Thank you, Diane.

We hope you enjoy this episode. 💛

This week's guest is Samie. Samie joins us today and shares her story about her sweet son, Drayke who took his own life earlier this year.

Drayke was only 12. He was getting bullied by another boy his age. Samie says that Drayke was compassionate, sweet, and funny. He actually tried to befriend the bully hoping that this boy just needed a friend. What an example of compassion Drayke was. Their family's world was shattered the moment Drayke was gone.

Samie and her husband have started a national campaign #bagsagainstbullies. She talks about what it's all about on this episode. You can also find out more information @ https://bagsagainstbullies.com/

Samie, thank you for sharing your story on our podcast. It was an honor to record with you. We hope we can do your story justice and make Drayke proud. 💛💙

#doitfordrayke

Michelle is a wife, a mother of 2 children, and most recently a Certified Holistic Life Coach who spends a lot of time working with women through their grief process. Life has definitely handed Michelle some lemons. She learned when she was younger that she wouldn't be able to give birth to her children. So when the time came Michelle and her husband went through the adoption process. First came their daughter, and a few short years later, their son. When their son, James was 12 weeks old he passed away from SIDS. Michelle's story is heartbreaking, but like the other guests on this podcast, Michelle has made her own lemonade. She works hard at using the proper tools to help her process her grief, and we are so honored that we get to share her story with all of you.

Stephanie is our guest on this weeks episode. She tells us her story of losing her child due to an incompetent cervix. Stephanie teaches us all about her diagnosis, and what she has been through since losing her son and the multiple miscarriages after. She is doing a wonderful job at raising awareness and educating others all about having an incompetent cervix. We know her episode will find who needs to hear her story. We are honored that she chose to share it on Making Lemonade, and hope that you enjoy this episode.

Resources:

https://instagram.com/icawarecampaign?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Abbyloopers for Trans Abdominal Cerclage on Facebook

Rob is our guest on this week's podcast. This is an episode you won't want to miss. Rob is a father to 3 sons. His first son passed away in 2009. He and his late wife Sarah, had 2 more children. Tragedy struck again when Sarah was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2019, and later passed away in 2021.

As we sat and listened to Rob tell his story, we were in awe of who he is today, and the little nuggets of inspiration that he brought to his episode. Rob is wise beyond his years. We know that not only is he bringing awareness to stomach cancer, he is showing up for men and talking about men's mental health, all while teaching us and the listeners about moving forward with life.

We hope you guys enjoy this episode as much as we did. Leave a comment below, and tell us what you thought!

XOXO ~ Whit + Kels

Resources:

Podcast - Widow We Do Now

Robs YouTube channel - Widower Winging It

Michele Benyo is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®, a parent coach, and the founder of Good Grief Parenting. After her 6-year-old son died of cancer, her 3-year-old daughter said, “Mommy, half of me is gone.” This heartbreaking statement focused Michele’s career as an early childhood parenting specialist on the impact of grief on young children, particularly after child loss. Michele equips parents and other caring adults to recognize young children’s grief and to provide the support children need to cope well with any loss. The desire of Michele’s heart is to see families live forward after loss toward a future bright with possibilities and even joy.

Angela! She is our guest today on the podcast and let me tell you a little about this amazing woman! She lost her son, Cole at age 15 to brain cancer. While Kels and I can relate to losing a child, what came next we cannot. She then lost her husband right before the pandemic. To go through grief, lose your spouse and then become isolated when the world shut down. Was a whole other level for Angela. The way she climbed out of that grief is inspiring. She also started a foundation in Cole's honor. It's called The Cole Project. They focus on peer to peer music based support services for grief and healing. "Where words fail, music speaks". Angela has done incredible things for teens and young adults in her community. You can find out more about The Cole Project here:

www.thecoleproject.org

And on Instagram @the_cole_project

Megan is our guest on today's episode. She tells us her story of her daughter Natalie who was stillborn due to a rare disease called Triploidy. According to rarediseases.org - Triploidy is the presence of an additional set of chromosomes in the cell for a total of 69 chromosomes rather than the normal 46 chromosomes per cell. The extra set of chromosomes originates either from the father or the mother during fertilization.