Who Cares? with Lulu Goad

This week I’m speaking to Heidi Kennedy, Head of Complex Care at home care provider, Bluebird Care. Heidi’s first job, at just 14, was in a care home. She was an assistant, doing admin, cleaning, among other similar tasks. Not much later, she took on familial caregiving responsibilities. It's not surprising (or maybe it is) then that Heidi went on to become a district nurse. But it wasn't...

This week I'm talking to my cousin, Rory Grant. I'd grown up with Rory and her family in my life, but I'd never spoken to her about her experience caregiving for her wonderful mum, Edna, who passed away in 2014. Knowing, as eloquent as Rory is, that she would speak so movingly on care and grief, I knew I had to have her join me on the podcast. We talked about caregiving guilt, grief an...

This week on Who Cares? we're joined by BBC Radio 4's Justin Webb. Everyone will know Justin for his role as co-host of the Today programme, or the popular podcast Americast; broadly speaking you'll likely know this journalist for his daily interviewing and reporting. But you may not know that he has a complex history as a caregiver, whether in his youth, for his mother, who lived with...

To kick off season 3, I’m speaking to the writer and journalist, Juana Libedinsky. Juana is the author of the very moving memoir, ‘Downhill’ which recounts her husband’s horrifying skiing accident, in which he sustained severe traumatic brain injury and fell into a coma. As the self-described 'nerd' that she is, Juana leant on books during that time (as she would normally) to better cope w...

For the final episode of season 2, I'm speaking to Dearbhla Sacoman, a friend of our Associate Producer, a student, and listener of the pod. Dearbhla has been a secondary caregiver for most of her life to her twin sister who lives with autism, epilepsy and intellectual disabilities. Over her 21 years, Dearbhla has had to learn how someone so similar to her lives such a different life, and how...

This week I'm speaking to Sophie Cobden, social media advocate, co-host of Not Your Typical Podcast, and SEN parent to her two children Callie and Marley. Sophie is unlike so many others in bringing her story to our screens, and has amassed a huge following; her audience seeing her day-to-day life learning and living with a neurodivergent family. In this episode, we unpack a lot of what has ch...

This week I'm speaking to former NHS nurse and now founder of the dementia organisation, The Ness Care Group, Johnny Hanbury. Growing up, it wasn't expected by any stretch for a person of Johnny's upbringing to qualify as a nurse, and particularly not someone of his gender. And to this day, after more than 20 years in the NHS, Johnny is still tackling the stereotypes. In this episode, Johnny share...

This week's guest is Molly Case, who I discovered online telling a really moving story about her work as a palliative care nurse. When I discovered she was an acclaimed poet and writer, I was even more determined to have her on the podcast to talk about her wide-ranging interests and areas of expertise. We talk about caregiving (of course), mortality (we could've talked more on this) and l...

My second guest of S2 is Simon Mundy, a great and always entertaining friend of the family. Simon’s wife Ali was diagnosed with a brain tumour around five years ago and Simon, also facing a cancer diagnosis of his own, became a caregiver for his partner of 28 years. Being a husband and a carer is not a unique experience, but it's incredibly difficult and not something that is often discussed at th...

You will probably have heard of Empty Chairs or even Chicken Rush, but you may not know their creator, Dean Perryman. Dean didn't grow up talking about his emotions but after the loss of his best friend Rob to suicide at the end of 2025, Dean established Empty Chairs, a grassroots movement tackling loneliness by encouraging people to meet in public spaces for informal and open conversation. Th...

For our third and final episode of season one, I’m speaking to Oscar Lacey-Solymar, the son of Gillian Lacey-Solymar, the renowned Parkinson's activist (and Parky herself). Oscar's mum was diagnosed almost 15 years ago, when he was just 11. He can't imagine life without caregiving, but, to his great credit, only has positive takeaways from his experience. I hope you enjoy this episode....

My second guest on Who Cares? is my good friend Cicely Creswell. She's an enormously talented fine line artist. Her siblings are very creative too, no doubt a passion sparked by their dad, the renowned watercolour painter, Alexander Creswell. Cicely’s dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when she was 17. Two years into her degree at Edinburgh, Ciecly dropped out to care for her dad full time...

My first guest is documentary filmmaker Josh Brown. We met at the end of last year and got talking about care when I expressed my desire to start this show. Josh has a fascinating story about growing up as a young carer. When he was four, his great-grandmother Mary Power was diagnosed with dementia, and until the age of 13, Josh took on a range of care responsibilities. He seems only to have the g...

Welcome to Who Cares?, the podcast all about care. Find out more about why this show has come about in this introduction. As I mention, I'm really interested in speaking to a wide range of people to help inform others of differing care experiences (and the prominence of it in our world!). Please send me any thoughts and feedback by getting in touch via our Instagram page @whocarespod_