Ep.9: Parenting an Autistic Child

In this season finale I asked my best friend, Sierra, to interview me on my experience during my mom's cancer journey. My mom was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in July 2022 and I dropped everything to move home to Bermuda to be with her and the family during this time.  As we begin a new year, my mom rings the end of treatment bell and I pause to reflect on the journey we wen't through to get to this moment. This is a story of heart ache, hope and how powerful a positive mind set is. 

Flo shares with us her experience as a single mom to her son, Israel, a 7 year old boy who has autism. He was diagnosed when he was 3 years old. She describes what it was first like to receive this news and how hard it was in the beginning.    She tells us how they have found a good routine and because of this, her mental health has improved a lot. She attributes this to the good support system in their lives.

Kristen shares with us the struggle she went through to start her family and the journey she and her husband went on with IVF to have their daughter.  IVF stands for in vitro fertilization and is is used to help people with fertility problems have a baby (NHS, 2022). 

Tatyana shares what it is like to live with bipolar disorder. She relates it to walking on a tight rope, trying not to fall off, either into mania or depression. She shares what her triggers are, how her relationships have been impacted and the ways she has learned to cope. 

Raymar shares with us what it is like having a parent in prison. His father has been incarcerated for 3 years now. He shares the anger he experienced, the family divide this has caused and how hard it is to maintain a relationship with someone who is behind bars. 

Katy shares her experience going through premature menopause during her 30s. This is when the ovaries stop producing eggs before they should and no longer create the hormones estrogen and progesterone, which are important for women's health and well-being (The Daisy Network, 2022). Katy says that 1 in 100 women who are under the age of 40 will experience this. If you or a loved one is going through this, please see the Daisy Network to learn more and connect with others going through this: https://www.daisynetwork.org/about-poi/what-is-poi/

Beth shares with us what it was like losing her mother to dementia: how hard it was to care for her internationally; the guilt she experienced of not living near her; and the mental toll it took on her when her mother forgot who she was.    Beth believes it was the abuse her mother experienced as a child growing up in foster care that led to her dementia as it left profound mental scars that were never addressed.  For those unfamiliar with dementia: it is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with your daily life.

Today I sit down with my best friend Alex and we talk about our experience at university when we lived with a con man and how his web of lies and manipulation all unravelled, putting a big target on my back as I was the one who figured it all out. His real name and those involved have been changed.

In 2017, a terrorist drove across Westminster bridge in London and killed 5 people and injured 50 others. Travis, a survivor of the attack, shares how those 82 seconds changed his life forever. 

Sex trafficking is when victims are manipulated or forced to engage in various forms of sexual activity for someone else’s financial gain. Sex trafficking does not necessarily involve movement or transportation, a person can be trafficked and go home and sleep in their own bed at night (Polaris Project, 2021).  Our guest, Sean Wheeler lives and works in Colorado. He was sex trafficked from around age 5 until age 9 and he experienced other forms of abuse for some 15 years, including having been used in child pornography. In this episode he shares how it all began, the grooming methods that were used, how he lost his voice and the emotional scars that he has been working through. Today, Sean speaks out on the issue of child trafficking and is in the process of setting up a safety house for male victims.  Watch episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOys9V5dD6s&list=PLqaZCWiJ5r3f2uzVqRzeaEPPlp0nj7u3v&index=1  Sean's book "Wretch": https://www.amazon.com/Wretch-Haunted-Shadows-Rescued-Jesus/dp/1498486738