Born For This Stories

When Annie was born the day after Christmas, a room of 20+ doctors already knew something was different. The diagnosis came days later: Costello syndrome, an ultra-rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the HRAS gene, affecting only 200–300 children in the world. In this episode of Born For This Stories, Bob joins from London to share nine and a half years of raising Annie — a girl with a v...

For years, Len Geiger kept getting "better" — antibiotics, an inhaler, rest — until a breathless night in front of his family on his 35th birthday forced the truth. The diagnosis: alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare genetic condition causing irreversible emphysema. He'd already lost more than 60% of his lung function. In this episode of Born For This Stories, Len shares the full arc — from misd...

Angela Kelman was fighting a rare, life-threatening disease called amyloidosis — a year of chemo, heading into septic shock — when her father was diagnosed with end-stage Alzheimer's. Her mother now has early-stage Alzheimer's. Her daughter Cassandra lives with a rare genetic blood clotting disorder. In this episode of Born For This Stories, Angela shares what happens when every role you hold — pa...

When Lisa's daughter Paloma was three weeks old, a geneticist walked in with a stack of papers and a diagnosis Lisa had never heard of: Pallister-Killian Syndrome, a rare condition affecting only a few hundred children in the world. In this deeply moving episode of Born For This Stories, Lisa shares Paloma's whole journey — who she was, the fight, and the sudden cardiomyopathy (heart failure) that...

What happens after the diagnosis — when the treatment helps, but it still does not change the disease itself? In Part 2 of Isabella and Gabriella's story, Johanna and Peter continue the conversation around mevalonate kinase deficiency , also known as MKD , and what it looks like to parent a child with an ultra-rare genetic disorder where every fever, cold, virus, or flare can become life-threateni...

Imagine your newborn is fighting for her life, but no one can tell you what's wrong... In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Isabella, a mother from Brazil living in Switzerland, whose daughter Gabriella was born prematurely and later diagnosed with one of the rarest metabolic diseases in the world: Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency, also known as MKD. What began as...

What happens when the medical diagnosis changes everything — not for your child, but for you? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Beth Finn, a technology executive, brain tumor survivor, advocate, and board member of the National Brain Tumor Society. At just 26 years old, Beth was building her career and living her life when an MRI revealed a rare chordoma pr...

What happens when the parent becomes the patient, and the medical journey is no longer happening to your child, but to you? In the Season 3 premiere of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Vanessa, a speech pathologist, mother, ICU survivor, and author of Speechless . Vanessa shares the life-altering medical crisis that began with what felt like a sudden illness and quickly beca...

Season 2 of Born For This Stories became something bigger than one family's story. It became proof that medical parents everywhere are carrying similar fears, questions, grief, decisions, and hope — even when their children's diagnoses look completely different. In this season finale, Dr. Johanna Hartley reflects on the stories, families, medical conditions, and emotional themes that shaped Season...

What if oxygen could support healing in ways most parents are never told about? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Dr. Jason Sonners, doctor of chiropractic, PhD, functional medicine provider, hyperbaric oxygen therapy researcher, and owner of HBOT USA, to talk about one of the therapies that became part of their son's post-surgical healing journey: hyperbar...

Medical parenting does not come with a roadmap. One day you are surviving the diagnosis, the appointments, the surgeries, the research, and the fear — and somewhere along the way, you realize you do not even know what stage you are in. In this solo episode of Born For This Stories, Dr. Johanna Hartley walks through the emotional stages many medical moms experience while navigating a child's diagno...

What if the body was more connected than we ever realized? What if symptoms we see in one area are part of a much larger story happening beneath the surface? In Part Two of Lindsay's story, Johanna and Peter continue the conversation by exploring the role of fascia , body tension patterns, trauma, and how different parts of the body may be connected in ways we are only beginning to understand. As...

Most parents facing a diagnosis feel like there is one path forward. One recommendation. One "right" decision. But what happens when you pause long enough to ask deeper questions? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Lindsay, a mom of three, a fascial therapist, and a deeply intuitive parent who shares her family's journey after her son was diagnosed with hypo...

Not every medical parenting journey ends when the surgery is over, the diagnosis is managed, or the appointments slow down. Sometimes the hardest part is the quiet aftermath — carrying what changed you, often alone. In this deeply personal episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna shares the heart behind HELD — a free monthly gathering created for medical moms who are carrying the invisible emoti...

When your child's diagnosis becomes your whole world, what happens to the woman underneath it all? In this deeply personal solo episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna speaks directly to the moms who have quietly disappeared into caregiving — the women who have poured so completely into keeping their child safe, healthy, and supported that they no longer know what fills their own cup. This epis...

What happens when you understand the body deeply, but still walk through a journey it can't explain? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna sits down with Dr. Mary, a chiropractor, mom, and holistic practitioner whose path to motherhood took her through years of infertility, IVF, miscarriage, and ultimately adoption. Despite her deep knowledge of the nervous system and the body's abili...

You made it through the diagnosis. The surgeries. The appointments. But what if your body never got the message that it's safe now? In this solo episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna dives into one of the most overlooked parts of medical parenting — the long-term impact of living in fight-or-flight mode . This is the side no one talks about: the constant scanning, the mental exhaustion, the i...

Sometimes the hardest part of your child's diagnosis isn't the condition itself, but the guilt you carry afterward. In this deeply personal solo episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna speaks directly to the moms who are in the thick of it. The ones carrying the weight of "what if," "why me," and "did I cause this?" This episode is a powerful reflection on the emotional aftermath of receiving a...

What does medical parenting feel like from a father's perspective? In this solo episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna turns the microphone toward Peter to explore a side of medical parenting that is rarely talked about — the dad experience. While many conversations focus on the emotional, research-driven, and intuitive journey of mothers, this episode highlights how fathers process diagnoses,...

What happens when you know something isn't right — but you keep being told everything is fine? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Christy, a mom of three, physician, and founder of ThriveWell Functional Pediatrics. Her journey into medical parenting began at birth, when her son was diagnosed with esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) — a...

What do medical parents actually need from the people around them? When a child receives a diagnosis, faces surgery, or navigates ongoing medical care, friends and family often want to help — but many simply don't know how. Well-meaning reassurance can sometimes leave parents feeling more isolated instead of supported. In this episode of Born For This Stories , hosts Johanna and Peter step away fr...

What happens when the traditional medical path doesn't feel like the only answer — or the right one for your child? In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Katherine to explore what it means to navigate complex medical decisions as a parent while also exploring holistic approaches to healing. Katherine shares her family's journey through diagnosis, treatment deci...

A rare genetic diagnosis during pregnancy. A cleft lip and palate. Limb differences. Missing teeth. Chronic infections. Sixteen surgeries — and counting. In this episode of Born For This Stories , we sit down with Lindsay, a mom raising her 10-year-old son Ronan who was diagnosed in utero with EEC syndrome (Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Cleft), a rare genetic disorder that affects development...

Different diagnoses. Different surgeries. Different waiting rooms. And yet — the same questions whispered in the dark. In this solo episode, hosts Johanna and Peter step back from guest interviews to reflect on the patterns they keep hearing from medical parents across the world. From hypospadias and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis to limb differences, clubfoot, and DiGeorge syndrome, the diagnoses...

What happens after the diagnosis? After the shock fades? After the appointments end and the real work of parenting begins? In Part Two of Kari and Ali's story, we move from isolation to action. This episode dives into what it looks like when parents realize the systems meant to support them are incomplete — and choose to build something better. From navigating COVID isolation to organizing 150-plu...