Born For This Stories

Some diagnoses are discovered before birth. Others arrive as a surprise in the delivery room. Both can leave parents searching for answers they were never given. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Kari and Ali, two mothers raising children with limb differences whose paths into medical parenting looked very different, yet led them to the same place: advocacy...

There is a moment in many parents' lives when everything shifts — often quietly, in a doctor's office or an ultrasound room. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Regina, a mother navigating the complex realities of raising a medically fragile child with DeGeorge Syndrome and a congenital heart condition. From a prenatal diagnosis to open-heart surgery just day...

Some parenting journeys reshape not only how you care for your child, but how you see the world. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Marcia, a mother whose journey into medical parenting required her to navigate complex diagnoses, cultural expectations, and the ongoing work of advocacy. Marcia shares how becoming a parent to a child with unique needs challeng...

Some diagnoses arrive quietly, but they change everything. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Mariangel, a Venezuelan-Canadian mother of two whose daughter was born with clubfoot. What began as shock and uncertainty after birth became a journey shaped by resilience, family support, and a deep commitment to making sure her daughter and other children like her...

Healing doesn't always look the way we expect, and it rarely happens all at once. In the final part of Rebecca's three-part story, we explore what long-term healing looked like after stepping fully into a gut-centered, holistic approach for her daughter's severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis. This episode focuses on the slow, steady work of rebuilding the immune system, restoring gut health, and c...

When the standard treatment plan doesn't feel right, what happens next? In Part 2 of Rebecca's three-part story, we continue her family's journey after her daughter's devastating diagnosis of severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis. This episode explores what happened when Rebecca chose to step outside conventional care and pursue a radically different approach. An approach rooted in nutrition, detox...

What if your child looks healthy, happy, and pain-free, but their body is quietly fighting a war you can't see? In Part 1 of this three-part series, Johanna and Peter sit down with Rebecca Hunter, mom of three and holistic medical mama, to share the beginning of her youngest daughter's journey with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), one of the most severe cases her doctors had ever seen. What st...

What if healing your child doesn't mean doing more, but understanding why their body is responding the way it is? In the second part of Dr. Kim Tran's story, Johanna and Peter continue the conversation about severe childhood eczema, gut health, and the long road from desperation to empowerment. This episode goes deeper into the science and the emotional reality of parenting a child whose symptoms...

What if the thing you're told is "just skin" is actually your child's immune system crying out for help? In this powerful episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Dr. Kim Tran, a pregnancy and pediatric chiropractor and functional medicine provider, to share her family's journey through severe infant eczema. What began after a "beautiful, picture perfect home birth" quick...

Some stories don't resolve quickly. Some live in the space between crisis and hope. Day after day. Month after month. In the emotional conclusion to this two-part series, Johanna and Peter continue their conversation with Suzie, whose son Zayn continues to battle hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and a complex web of GI complications, strokes, feeding struggles, and life-altering medical deci...

Some parents walk into a diagnosis. Others are thrown into it without warning. In this powerful two-part story, Johanna and Peter sit down with Susie, mom of three and mother to Zayn — her brave "heart warrior" born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Part 1 walks listeners through the moment everything changed: an unsettling 18-week ultrasound, a devastating phone call during their gende...

Some stories take your breath away, not because they're tragic, but because they are so full of life that you can feel every heartbeat of them. In this episode, Johanna and Peter sit down with Dr. Susan, a chiropractor and mom whose family story unfolded in the most unexpected way. After years of infertility and finally adopting their daughter Emme, Susan found out she was pregnant just 13 days la...

What if one of the most powerful healing tools for your medically complex child has been around for 50 years, and no one ever told you about it? In this illuminating episode, Johanna and Peter sit down with Dr. Alison Evans, chiropractor, educator, and founder of Fringe, a company reshaping how families understand and use red light therapy. With 25 years in natural healthcare, Alison breaks down t...

What happens when your first ultrasound becomes the moment everything changes? In this heartfelt episode, Johanna and Peter sit down with Broghan, a pediatric nurse and mom of three whose oldest son, Theo, was diagnosed in utero with bilateral clubfoot during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. What followed was a NICU stay, weeks of early-morning castings, and a terrifying post-surgical complica...

Season 2 begins with a story that will stay with you. Today, Johanna and Peter sit down with Dylan, a first-time mom whose daughter, Freya, was born with a congenital limb difference called longitudinal radial deficiency —a rare condition where the forearm bones don't fully develop. From the shock of her diagnosis at the 20-week ultrasound to finding healing through therapy, family support, and th...

"We created the thing we felt would have helped us, and now it's grown into something bigger than us." Today, we close the chapter on  Season One — and open the door to something even bigger. In this heartfelt finale, Johanna and Peter sit down together to reflect on how Born For This Stories began, the families it's reached around the world, and the moments that changed everything. From the early...

Today, we hear a different perspective — one rarely shared. In this deeply moving episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Dr. Tarek, a physiotherapist, osteopathic specialist, and founder of the Thrive Beyond the Diagnosis Foundation . Born with a rare and severe form of epispadias that evolved into hypospadias after multiple surgeries, Dr. Tarek opens up about surviving...

What would you say to the version of yourself who just got the diagnosis? In this deeply personal solo episode, Johanna shares a letter she wishes she could have handed to herself the day her son was born and everything changed. Speaking directly to the parent lying awake tonight wondering if they failed their child, Johanna offers words of comfort, truth, and strength for the days that feel impos...

When a doctor says, "It's a simple fix," most parents want to believe them. But what happens when it isn't? In this powerful episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter speak with Caroline, a UK-born lawyer and mom of four now living in Pennsylvania, whose son Jude was diagnosed with hypospadias at birth. What she was told would be a "minor surgery" turned into three operations over the c...

Have you ever gotten a second opinion that was the complete opposite of what you were initially told? Imagine that, plus you've just given birth, and your baby's future is hanging in the balance. That was the reality of today's guest. In this powerful episode, Johanna and Peter sit down with Kylie, a mom from South Carolina whose son Aiden was born at just 31 weeks and weighing under three pounds....

A story of unexpected diagnosis followed by years of waiting and choices no parent feels prepared to make. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter sit down with Sarah, a mom from Canada whose son was diagnosed with severe hypospadias at birth. From being told "it's an easy fix" to learning it would require multiple surgeries, Sarah shares the raw truth of navigating children's...

The surgery might be over, but the hardest part often begins once you get home. In this episode of Born For This Stories , Johanna and Peter share the raw truth about pediatric surgery recovery - the sleepless nights, the emotional whiplash, and the gut-wrenching moments parents are rarely warned about. From the first 48 hours post-op to juggling pain management, catheters, regressions, and linger...

What questions should you really ask before choosing a surgeon for your child? In this powerful continuation of our conversation with Dr. Nicol Corbin Bush and Dr. Warren Snodgrass, two of the world's leading pediatric urologists, we go deeper into what parents need to know about hypospadias repair. From asking about surgical success rates and reviewing before-and-after photos, to understanding wh...

What happens when you have the opportunity to interview the surgeon who changed the future of not only your own child's life, but thousands of others?  In this special episode, Johanna and Peter speak with Dr. Warren Snodgrass and Dr. Nicol Corbin Bush — leading pediatric urologists specializing in hypospadias repair, co-directors of the Hypospadias Specialty Center, and Founders of Operation Happ...

A diagnosis rarely impacts just one person. It can ripple through an entire family and take a toll on everyone. In this episode, Johanna and Peter open up about one of the unseen sides of medical parenting that many face: the impact on siblings. From juggling travel for surgeries to trying to keep routines normal, they share the highs and lows of raising one child with medical needs while protecti...