Episodes
June 21, 2017
A Letter to My Wife
As a person who had a long time meditation practice, Joe DiNardo had carried himself through hard times with presence and grace. But his wife's diagnosis with pancreatic cancer required that he bring every resource he had to ...
June 14, 2017
Messages
From the time Fleur was 4 years old, she communicated with the souls of people who were no longer alive. By good fortune, her family recognized that this was a gift, that she was different in a good way. Still, she didn't ant...
June 7, 2017
I Remember
Filmmaker Matt Wolf is compelled by the people who nurture the legacy of artists who died of AIDS. He has made films about and interviewed many people who lived through the worst of the AIDS epidemic and fight to keep the pub...
May 31, 2017
Great Day To Be Alive
How does a cancer diagnosis change a life? When Patricia Bahia was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it resulted in a commitment to live her bucket list. For her, this meant committing her life to two things; well-being and musi...
May 24, 2017
Meant for Heaven
Holland Young was an impish and active 3 year old when she started complaining to her parents that she had a headache. In short order, she transformed from a very healthy to a very sick child. As the Youngs navigated the agon...
May 17, 2017
Insomniac City
Bill Hayes left his life in San Francisco for New York City, hoping to heal from the loss of his partner and find comfort in the sharp rhythms and landscape of the New York skyline. Unexpectedly, he fell in love with Oliver S...
May 10, 2017
Radical Survivor
Nancy Saltman has had and survived cancer twice. But that could not have prepared her for the worst losses of her life. On an ordinary day, she got the phone call telling her that her husband and two sons, her whole family, h...
May 3, 2017
Middle Life Maze
Finding recovery, purpose and peace all the way to the end of our lives can be challenging. Aging, with its accumulated losses and disappointments, finds us. Navigating the territory of life's difficulties in midlife carries ...
April 26, 2017
Once We Were Sisters
When you watch someone you love live, and ultimately die, in an abusive relationship, how does it shape your own life? Sheila Kohler's sister was her childhood friend, her confidante. Living parallel lives, her sister Maxine ...
April 19, 2017
Tug at My Heart
One crushing event by itself would have led Deb Hart into a dark night of the soul. But how could she absorb two terrible losses; the death of her son at 22 and a breast cancer diagnosis? She asked all the usual questions; wh...
April 12, 2017
Surviving the Storm
As the life span of people diagnosed with cancer has lengthened, questions arise about what life looks like after. A physical illness is also a life event, a story that often needs to be told and existential questions that ye...
April 5, 2017
Every Breath I Take
How does it feel to live with life-limiting illness from your first day? How does it influence the way you look at the world and what you believe. And what is the impact of living with an illness that so many people die of, t...
March 29, 2017
The Roadmap Home
In a childhood filled with loss, neglect and longing, perhaps the biggest loss is a connection to one's own heart. Hardening to cope with what is lacking, we can become rigid, avoiding our deep feelings and most precious long...
March 22, 2017
Words at the Threshhold
Some people think that dying people increasingly speak nonsense, losing their grip on reality. But Lisa Smartt, a linguist trained to pay deep attention to words, realized as her father was dying that what he was saying was c...
March 15, 2017
Making Healthcare LGBTQ-inclusive
Regardless of changes in the legal rights of LGBTQ people, end of life can feel like a step backward, with biased health care workers and lack of resources. How can we educate health facilities and workers to deliver appropri...
March 8, 2017
May Cause Love
The war between so-called pro-choice and pro-life forces in America seem divided beyond repair. But where does that leave women who have made the often painful and important decision to have an abortion? As Kassi Underwood sa...
March 1, 2017
Quiet
Sometimes a moment comes when we can no longer stay silent about what we have been through. Then it's time to speak out and claim our own courage and resiliency! Such a moment came for Milck, a musician who had experienced ph...
Feb. 22, 2017
All the King's Horses
Barry Milazzo's beautiful son was born healthy and strong. But after two childhood immunizations, he became severely disabled, unable to communicate, walk or meet virtually any developmental milestones. With his faith severel...
Feb. 15, 2017
There is No Good Card for This
When our friends and loved ones face a crisis, we often don't know what to say. Do we say anything at all? What if we say the wrong thing? Nearly everyone who has faced a hard time has heard things that weren't so helpful. Bu...
Feb. 8, 2017
Last Acts of Kindness
What more is to be learned when an experienced hospice and palliative care nurse is diagnosed herself? And how does that bring a deep richness to the world of her patients? Having learned the poetry of sitting with those faci...
Feb. 1, 2017
Heart Centered Wisdom for End of Life
Keeping our hearts open with people at the end of life brings blessings not just to them but to us as well. Accompanying people as they ail and die can be deeply rewarding and few feel this as keenly at Deanna Cochran, who tr...
Jan. 18, 2017
Grief Dreams
The dreams we have of loved ones after they die have a deep impact, connecting us to the person we've lost. Sometimes there is a special quality to the dreams, feeling more like visitations. But there is sometimes a hesitatio...
Jan. 11, 2017
Namaste Care
Bringing compassion to the end of a life impacted by dementia presents unique challenges for families and caregivers. How do we face the inherent losses and frustrations with grace and create a warm and loving environment to ...
Jan. 4, 2017
Magic, Miracles and Martinis
When you're used to being certain, successful and on top of things, uncertainty is a new and unfamiliar territory. Amy Van Atta Slater entered that territory when illness, loss and divorce converged to create a very uncertain...