A Place of Yes | A Grief Podcast

AJ Coleman was building the life he had always imagined with his wife, Cory, when everything changed. Just two months after the birth of their daughter, Zoe, Cory began experiencing troubling symptoms that led to the discovery of an aggressive brain tumor. What followed was a devastating year of surgeries, rehabilitation, and treatments as AJ balanced his responsibilities as a husband, caregiver, and new father. When Cory died at just 33 years old, AJ was left to raise their one-year-old daughter on his own. Determined to give Zoe a happy childhood while keeping her mother's memory alive, he began navigating single fatherhood, grief, and an uncertain future with a philosophy that would eventually become the title of his book: Keep Those Feet Moving.In this conversation, AJ and Heather explore what it means to rebuild a life after unimaginable loss and how resilience can emerge from experiences we never would have chosen. AJ reflects on growing up with a severe hearing impairment, the childhood challenges that helped shape his determination, and the difficult decisions he faced during Cory's illness. He shares how he kept Cory's presence woven into Zoe's childhood through stories, photographs, traditions, and even humor, and what it felt like to recently send their now 18-year-old daughter off to college. Together, AJ and Heather discuss anticipatory grief, finding acceptance without forgetting, and the difference between simply surviving and creating a meaningful life after loss. It's a heartfelt conversation about fatherhood, perseverance, and the extraordinary strength we sometimes discover when life leaves us no choice but to keep moving forward.Resources & Ways to ConnectAJ Coleman's Website: https://keepthosefeetmoving.com/Keep Those Feet Moving: A Widower's 8-Step Guide to Coping With Grief and Thriving Against All Odds: https://keepthosefeetmoving.com/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

When Nadia Bowers lost her older sister, Sasha, to a drug overdose in 2015, she lost far more than a sibling. Sasha was her partner in laughter, her keeper of childhood memories, and one of the people who knew her best. Exuberant, fiercely funny, and deeply compassionate, Sasha was a clinical social worker who championed people others often overlooked, even as she struggled with addiction herself. In the aftermath of her death, Nadia found herself consumed by a question: Who sold her sister the drugs that killed her? With Sasha's phone still in her possession, she began piecing together messages and clues, searching for someone to hold responsible. What began as an angry letter to an unknown drug dealer eventually became a piece on This American Life and, eight years later, her memoir, Dear Dealer. Along the way, Nadia discovered that understanding her sister's death would mean confronting much more than the person who supplied the drugs.In this conversation, Nadia and Heather explore the complicated grief of losing a sibling to addiction, the anger that comes with unanswered questions, and the challenge of remembering someone for the fullness of their life rather than how they died. Nadia reflects on becoming a mother shortly after Sasha's death, struggling to understand who she was without her sister, and learning to make room for the messy, contradictory emotions that grief brings. They also talk about the strange ways memories change over time, the guilt parents carry after losing a child, and why acceptance can sometimes feel more honest than forgiveness. Through it all, Nadia shares the humor, irreverence, and fierce love that defined her relationship with Sasha, and how writing became a way to remain connected to her. It's an intimate, often surprisingly funny conversation about addiction, sisterhood, and the realization that grief isn't something we simply get over, but one of the ways we continue loving the people we've lost.Resources & Ways to ConnectNadia Bowers Website: https://www.nadiabowers.com/Dear Dealer: A Memoir: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Dear-Dealer/Nadia-Bowers/9781668037898Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Nico Slate was 23 when his older brother, Peter, died in a car accident. Seven years older and raised alongside Nico by their single mother, Peter had been far more than a brother—he was a father figure, protector, and the person who pushed Nico beyond his fears while always making him feel safe. In the immediate aftermath of Peter’s death, Nico barely had space for his own grief. His mother was devastated, and for years his energy went toward helping her survive a loss that had completely consumed her life. It wasn’t until more than a decade later, after Nico became a father himself, that his grief began to change. He wanted his children to know their Uncle Peter, but he also realized there was still so much about his brother that he didn’t know himself.In this conversation, Nico and Heather talk about sibling grief, the complicated relationship between a grieving parent and surviving child, and what it means to discover new parts of someone long after they’re gone. A historian and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Nico eventually turned the tools of his profession toward his own family, interviewing Peter’s friends, digging through old documents and police records, and reconsidering moments from their childhood through an adult lens. That process forced him to look more deeply at Peter’s experience as a biracial Black man with a white brother, including the violent attack that cost Peter an eye and changed the course of his life. It also gave Nico something unexpected: new stories of Peter’s humor, friendships, music, love, and the tremendous amount of joy he packed into his short life. More than two decades after Peter’s death, Nico shares how getting to know his brother again has helped him carry Peter into his own family—and become a little more like the brother he still misses every day.Resources & Ways to ConnectNico Slate: https://www.nicoslate.com/Brothers: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Race: https://www.nicoslate.com/booksJake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Anna Nordberg was 13 when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and 17 when she died. During those years, her mother did something Anna only fully understood much later: she prepared her children for a life without her. There were no grand bucket-list trips or dramatic final gestures. Instead, she kept life as normal as possible—showing up for track meets, filling out permission slips, being honest about her illness, and making sure Anna and her brother knew exactly how deeply they were loved. For years afterward, Anna kept moving forward, waiting for the moment when grief would finally feel finished. Instead, she discovered that losing her mother would continue to take on new meaning with every stage of her own life.In this conversation, Anna and Heather talk about what it means to become a mother without your own mom and how parenthood can completely change the way you understand an old loss. Anna shares the “ghost conversations” she still has with her mother, the fear of leaving her own children too soon, and the realization that motherhood made her grieve not only what she had lost, but everything her mother never got to experience. She also shares how going through her mother’s journals and papers eventually inspired her debut novel, When She Was Ours, and why writing fiction allowed her to explore some of the complicated feelings around grief that are hardest to say out loud. Together, Anna and Heather reflect on the ordinary days that become precious in hindsight, carrying our parents into the families we create, and the surprising ways a relationship can continue to evolve long after someone is gone.Resources & Ways to ConnectAnna Nordberg Website and Book: https://www.annanordberg.com/Anna Nordberg on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annanordberg_writer/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Casey Mulligan Walsh was just 12 years old when she lost both of her parents within ten months of each other. Suddenly uprooted from the only life she knew, she was sent to live with relatives in upstate New York while her older brother remained behind. Eight years later, her brother died unexpectedly, leaving Casey as the last surviving member of her immediate family. She built a family of her own, determined to create the stability she had lost so young. Then, years later, she experienced the loss every parent fears when her 20-year-old son, Eric, was killed in a car accident.In this conversation, Casey and Heather look beyond the losses themselves to the ways they shaped everything that followed. Casey reflects on learning as a child not to take up too much space, losing the people who were the “keepers” of her history, and her lifelong instinct to control what she could in a world that had repeatedly shown her how little control we actually have. She also shares who Eric was before his death—the funny, charismatic, adventure-seeking son who made her a mother—and how his spirit continues to influence the life she leads today. Together, Casey and Heather explore the difference between surviving tragedy and eventually finding meaning within it, the possibility of post-traumatic growth, and the belief that when we cannot change what has happened to us, we can still decide what we do with the life that remains. It’s a conversation about unimaginable loss, the people who stay with us, and believing, even in the darkest moments, that there can be another way.Resources & Ways to ConnectCasey Mulligan Walsh Website: https://caseymulliganwalsh.com/The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared: https://caseymulliganwalsh.com/the-full-catastrophe-all-i-ever-wanted-everything-i-feared/Jake’s  Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Before she turned 30, Tara Accardo lost both of her parents to cancer within six months of each other. An only child who had always considered her parents her “North Stars,” Tara suddenly found herself navigating a world without the two people she would have turned to when everything fell apart. Her mother’s illness introduced her to anticipatory grief before she even had a name for it, and while she was still reeling from that loss, her father’s health began to decline. Then, less than a year after his death, Tara lost Princess, the beloved dog she’d had since childhood. In the span of a year and a half, the family and sense of home she had always known were gone.In this conversation, Tara and Heather talk about compound grief, the loneliness of losing your parents young, and the strange process of figuring out who you are after loss fundamentally changes you. Tara shares how giving herself grace helped her begin to rebuild, eventually leading her to create Losses Become Gains, become a certified grief coach, and launch the Life With Grief podcast. They also explore the complicated idea that something meaningful can grow from devastating loss without suggesting the loss itself was somehow worth it, why grief can make the small stuff feel a whole lot smaller, and how community can help us feel seen when the people around us simply don’t understand. Tara also shares the story behind Letters of Light, her monthly snail-mail project offering fellow grievers a tangible reminder that they aren’t alone. It’s an honest conversation about the person you were before loss, the person you become afterward, and learning to make room for both.Resources & Ways to ConnectLosses Become Gains: https://lossesbecomegains.com/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Ann Marie Farino’s oldest son, Richard, was charismatic, funny, deeply empathetic, and the kind of kid who could walk into a room and connect with just about anyone. But beginning around age 12, he also struggled with depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges that eventually gave way to addiction. For years, Ann Marie did everything she could to help—therapists, schools, treatment programs, boundaries, second chances, and countless “deep breath mom moments” when there was no obvious right answer. Eventually, Richard got sober and stayed that way for the final three years of his life. He was working, building a life, and preparing to get married when, in June 2016, he died by suicide at just 24 years old.In this conversation, Ann Marie and Heather talk honestly about what it means to love a child through mental illness and addiction, the limits of what even a fiercely devoted parent can fix, and the complicated reality of losing someone to suicide. Ann Marie shares why, even during Richard’s years of sobriety, part of her always feared what might happen, and how she came to understand that life had simply become too painful for him. They also talk about the joy and humor that existed alongside the chaos, the “divine nudges” that continue to make Ann Marie feel Richard’s presence, and the bench in his hometown that has become an unexpected place of connection and remembrance. Nearly ten years after Richard’s death, Ann Marie has learned that grief and joy can occupy the same life—and that the love between a mother and her son doesn’t end when he dies.Resources & Ways to ConnectAnn Marie Farino Website: https://annmariefarino.com/Chronic Chaos: A Son’s Addiction, A Mother’s Love, and Her Quest to Find Joy: https://amplifypublishinggroup.com/product/nonfiction/health-medicine-and-wellness/mental-health/chronic-chaos/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

It’s been just over two years since Melissa Allen lost her daughter, Liv, after a sudden illness at 18 years old. Melissa has joined Heather on A Place of Yes before, but grief looks different now. Some days she can work, laugh, show up for the people she loves, and feel genuinely grateful for her life. Other days, a photograph can send her right back to the earliest days of loss. And as her younger daughter, Sophia, graduated from high school and left for college, Melissa found herself confronting an entirely new layer of grief: watching one daughter reach the milestones the other never had the chance to experience.In this conversation, Melissa and Heather talk honestly about what child loss looks like years later and the losses that continue to emerge as life moves forward. They discuss the complicated mix of pride and heartbreak that comes with watching their surviving children grow up, the strange loneliness of an empty nest after losing a child, and the work of allowing yourself to have terrible days without letting them consume your life. Melissa also reflects on how the Live Like Liv Foundation has given her a way to help others and keep Liv’s memory present, while acknowledging that grief work can sometimes carry its own emotional cost. Together, she and Heather talk about giving their living children space to build lives of their own, finding comfort in the smallest memories, and the perspective that comes from experiencing the unimaginable. As Melissa puts it, “death humbles you”—and more than two years later, she is still learning what it means to carry that truth forward.Resources & Ways to ConnectLive Like Liv Foundation: https://livelikelivfoundation.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Angelina was just three and a half years old when she was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Faced with devastating odds, her mom, Danielle Phillips, made a promise: if there came a point when treatment was no longer working, she wanted enough time to help Angelina do something incredible. What followed were seven and a half years of treatment, but also a life filled with huge birthday parties, cruises, Disney trips, indoor skydiving, swimming with sea turtles, ziplining in Hawaii, and checking off as much of Angelina’s bucket list as they possibly could. Even as the end approached, Danielle kept going, determined that cancer might shape Angelina’s life, but it would never be the only thing that defined it.In this conversation, Danielle and Heather talk about parenting a child with cancer, making impossible decisions, and what it means to help your child not just survive, but truly live. Danielle shares the story behind Angelina’s adventures, the final whirlwind of trips they took together, and the conversation shortly before Angelina died that reassured her they had done exactly what they set out to do. They also explore the ripple effect Angelina’s story had on other families facing childhood cancer and how, after her death, Danielle created They Were Here to preserve the stories and lessons of people who are gone. It’s a funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming conversation about making the time you have count and ensuring the people we love are remembered for how they lived—not simply how they died.Resources & Ways to ConnectThey Were Here: https://theywereherelessons.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

David Ferrugio was just 12 years old when his father was killed in the September 11th attacks. Growing up in a New Jersey commuter town, David went to school that morning knowing his dad worked in the World Trade Center but with no way to comprehend what was unfolding. More than two decades later, he still lives with a uniquely public kind of grief—one where the day his father died belongs, in some way, to everyone. From unexpectedly encountering footage of the attacks to grieving the relationship with his dad he never got to have as an adult, that loss has profoundly shaped the way David thinks about death, life, and what we do with the time we're given.In this conversation, David and Heather talk candidly about losing a parent young, the strange reality of grieving someone whose death is part of history, and why humor—even the wildly inappropriate kind—can sometimes help us carry the unbearable. David shares how repeatedly confronting the footage of 9/11 became part of his own grieving process, why he believes getting unstuck requires both grace and accountability, and how his father's death ultimately led him to create the podcast DEAD Talks. They also explore post-traumatic growth, survivor's guilt, mediumship, the possibility of an afterlife, and the importance of staying present when you know firsthand how quickly everything can change. It's an honest, sometimes funny conversation about accepting the absurdity of life and death, leaving room for the "maybe," and choosing to keep living when someone you love no longer can.Resources & Ways to ConnectYou're Not Dead Yet: https://a.co/d/0fcJmUZBDEAD Talks: https://deadtalks.net/Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelpJake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelpAPOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcastHeather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughterOur YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcastFor more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/