In the Face of Illness

Our guest, Kelly Cates, shares her family’s story of enduring multiple surgeries and care for her daughter, Caroline. The care and support Caroline received inspired Kelly and her family to begin the Happy Heart Boxes program at Le Beonheur through the Forrest Spence Fund. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t fo...

Our guest, Leigh-anna Liddell, shares her family’s story of miscarriage, their daughter’s illness and death, IVF, and adoption. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Our guest, Jennilyn Utkov, shares information about her career and current role at Methodist Le Bonheur. Listen in to her expertise! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Our guest, Landon Williams, shares his family’s story of childhood illness of two children born prematurely. He speaks about their strenuous journey they are enjoying one day at a time. Listen in to their story! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Our guest, Dana Defenbaugh, shares her family’s story of childhood illness that began with her daughter’s birth at 24 weeks. She speaks about the lessons they learned through Nowell’s health issues and death and how they are raising their second daughter, Minelle. Listen in to their story! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to...

Sara Hanai is Director of the Family Resource Center at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and has such an impact on the families she serves. She shared about her motivation and passion for this work as well about the many resources that she can offer to families in need. Listen in to learn more! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscr...

Our guests Kaleb and Rebekah Page are sweet friends of the Fund and were kind enough to share their family’s journey with childhood illness that started when their oldest son was still in the womb. Their unique and trying experience has given them wisdom to share with others and we hope you’ll listen in! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today...

Our guest Taylor Brown shared about her passion for Music Therapy and her love of using music to help her patients reach non-musical goals. Taylor was one of the first Music Therapist’s to be hired by Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and has big dreams for all the good Music Therapy can do. Listen in to learn all about Taylor and Music Therapy! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Prod...

We are celebrating the Forrest Spence Fund’s 15th anniversary this week by looking at how we started, how far we’ve come, and where we want to go in the future. Listen in as our Executive Director discusses the impact the Fund has had on many and how grateful we are for all of the people who have made this work possible. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings...

Our guest Dr. Austin Dalgo came on the podcast today to deconstruct the typically negative connotations of palliative care and bioethics and fill us in on all the positive and beneficial work that people in these fields do. It was an enlightening conversation as well as an uplifting one as he shared what he does as a palliative care physician, why he is passionate about it, and how he got started...

Laurel is a long time friend of the Forrest Spence Fund and Program Director of our Nashville branch. She came on today to share her family's story and the reason behind her passion for the Forrest Spence Fund. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Taylor was drawn to the Fund several years ago because of our mission to serve the non-medical needs of critically or chronically ill children and their families, including siblings. She herself is the sibling of a chronically ill sister and she was gracious enough to come on the podcast today to talk about how she experienced her sister’s diagnoses and chronic condition as a teenage sibling. To l...

We know that when a child is sick it impacts the entire family and so today, we are focusing on how we can best support siblings in particular. Our guest Katy spent the last several years working to support siblings of sick children as a child life specialist and she has some great pieces of advice on how we as caregivers, parents, and friends can all support siblings in different ways. Our show h...

Today Christine Perkinson, one of our faithful volunteers and fundraisers in Nashville came on to share all about our Nashville event. She also discusses how you can get involved through attending the event, volunteering at it, or even getting involved with the Fund in Nashville year round. Click here to learn more about our Nashville Event https://forrestspencefund.org/events/friends-for-forrest-...

Whitney is a dear friend of the Forrest Spence Fund and is such a likable, funny, and joy filled person! She came on today to share about her son Louie's heart defect and the journey her whole family has been on since his diagnosis. Despite the hard journey, Whitney and her family are such a testament of joy, love, and hope in the midst of hard things. Listen in and let us know what you think! Our...

Dr. Sarita Wilson is a pediatric chaplain and counselor and she walked us through what it looks like to care for families spiritually when they are in need. This conversation was very enlightening and we’d love to know what you learned! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Did you know that Physical Therapists not only work with adults and children but also with infants in NICUs and PICUs? Today we got to interview one of our friends who is a PT in a NICU department and asked her all the questions about what she does, how it helps babies, and why she loves this job. Listen in on this fun conversation with our friend Stacey Miles! Our show host is Brittany Spence and...

Cindy is mother to Asher who experienced a brain injury at birth and has a lot of special needs as a result. Cindy shared with both honesty and vulnerability about their journey and although it has not been easy, it has been good. Listen in to hear their story! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leav...

We’ve been planning this special 4th of July episode since before we even began the podcast and we are so excited for you to hear it. There are a lot of ways for kids to get hurt during the summer and especially around the 4th of July. However, our guest Dr. Regan shared so many ways that we can keep our kids safe without living in fear, or hindering their desire to have fun. Listen in and let us...

Dr. Torres is amazing at what he does and we were honored to have him on the podcast. He is a wonderful example of the amazing support there is for those who are facing childhood illness. Dr. Torres shares about the importance of making meaning of our pain and holding space for our grief. You will not want to miss this episode. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia G...

Stephen and Merri’s family have been a part of the Fund family for almost 13 years and we know you’ll be encouraged by their story. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up to date and don’t forget to leave a rating and review!

Tim Flack is the Senior Attorney for Memphis CHiLD which is an alliance of multiple organizations who are committed to providing legal services to low-income pediatric patients and their families. Today he shares about his own family's journey with childhood illness and how it impacted his career. Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to sta...

Allison Smith acts as the Community Engagement Specialist in the Volunteer & Family Support Department at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. In this role she is able to get individuals, groups, and even organizations like ours involved at Le Bonheur. Volunteers are able to support the staff, patients, and families at Le Bonheur in numerous ways and Allison’s department coordinates it all! She dis...

We have an extra special episode today with the President and Cofounder of the Forrest Spence Fund Dr. David Spence. Today David and Brittany share their story of losing their son Forrest and how this experience drove them to do something more. Because of their experience with Forrest, David and Brittany were forever changed, but in and through their grief, they were able to offer empathy, underst...

Angela Hamblen Kelly is the Executive Director at Baptist Centers for Good Grief. She and the other counselors there are committed to walking with children, teens, and adults, as they process and carry their grief due to the loss of a loved one. She had so much wisdom to share so listen now! Our show host is Brittany Spence and our Executive Producer is Lydia Gettings. Subscribe today to stay up t...