Grief is a universal feeling that comes with the loss of a loved one, but it can also come from the loss of the life you thought you were going to live. In this episode of A Place of YES, Heather Straughter chats with Lizzy. Lizzy’s daughter has special needs like Heather’s son Jake did before he passed. Lizzy opens up about her daughter’s rare diagnosis, her responses to therapists and other professionals telling her “she ‘s asking the wrong questions,” and the joy that comes with being a parent of a medically fragile child.
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I Couldn’t Save Her: Losing My Daughter Changed Everything
After Kelsey died, I blamed myself. I replayed every decision, every appointment, every moment. I thought I was prepared to fight for her—I wasn’t prepared to lose her. Grief didn’t just touch my life, it unraveled it. And for a long time, I didn’t know how I’d ever come back from that. This is the part of motherhood no one talks about.
What No One Tells You About Parenting a Child with Rare Disease – Emergency Surgeries & Advocacy
When Jude needed emergency surgery, there wasn’t time to process—just to act. That’s the reality of parenting a medically complex child. It’s not just the big surgeries or diagnoses—it’s the constant decisions, the fear of missing something, the exhaustion of always being on alert. But somehow, through it all, there’s still joy. There’s still love. And there’s a strength I never knew I had until I became Jude’s mom.
Losing My Sister at 15 – One Year Later
When my sister died, I felt like the world kept moving—and I didn’t. I was only 15, and suddenly everything changed. No one talks about how isolating it is to lose a sibling, especially that young. People asked how my parents were doing, but no one ever really asked me. I had to figure out how to grow up with a kind of grief that didn’t have a place. This is what it’s really like to lose your sister when you’re still just a kid.