Worst Club Ever (A Child Loss Podcast)

BONUS EPISODE: This week, Allie is featured on Dr. Maya Shankar's podcast A Slight Change of Plans (named Named Apple Podcasts’ Best Show of the Year in 2021).  In the episode, Allie talks to Maya about what it was like when her 3-year-old son was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and what it means to survive something that changes you so completely, you cannot go back to who you were. A Slight...

What is it like to parent another child after losing a child? To welcome a new baby into a grieving heart? In the final weeks of Allie's pregnancy, she explores all of the complicated feelings about bringing a new life into the world less than two years after the death of her 4-year-old son. In this beautiful and open-hearted conversation, she talks to bereaved mom, writer and advocate Maya T...

Do you ever wish you could ask your therapist what it's like to sit across the couch from you? This week on Worst Club Ever , Allie has this very conversation with her own therapist, Susan Reedy, one of the most essential members of her support system.  For the past two years, Susan has walked alongside Allie through the unimaginable — beginning in the middle of Theo’s diagnosis and continuin...

What does it mean to build a grief community? When faced with as devastating and uncommon a loss as the death of one's child, many bereaved parents find themselves seeking others who have walked a similar path, and find so much comfort in joining support groups and community events. In today’s episode, Allie attends a Walk & Remember 5K through Our House Grief Support Center, then talks t...

How do you prepare anyone for death, let alone a child? YOUR child? It's something no parent should ever have to face, and yet, many of us have had to.  And when this impossible scenario arises, how on earth do you handle it? Do you tell your child exactly what's happening to them? What if they're scared? Confused? How do you walk with them down this path? In this episode, Allie tal...

Have you ever wondered what to say to a grieving parent? In this episode, Allie is joined by Colin Campbell, author of Finding The Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose , which he wrote after his two teenage children, Ruby and Hart, were killed in a car accident by a drunk and high driver.  In this refreshingly candid conversation, Allie and Colin discuss navigating the discom...

In the final part of Theo’s story, Allie and Mike share the magic of hearing their son speak again, after four months of silence. They reflect on a beautiful and intense summer - the elated highs and the gutting lows, before recounting their final weeks with Theo, when his tumor began to progress and eventually took his life.  SUNSET is part 3 of a 3 part series. This episode contains details abou...

In Part 2 of Theo’s story, Allie and Mike describe hearing the news of their son’s terminal cancer diagnosis, and chronicle the first four months that followed. They share their journey through radiation, treatment planning, and trying to bring Theo the most magical experiences possible amidst the chaos of cancer.  ECLIPSE is part 2 of a 3 part series. This episode contains descriptions of pain, s...

In the very first episode of Worst Club Ever, host Allie Kramer and her husband Mike begin to tell the story of the life and death of their four-year-old son, Theo. In Part 1, Allie and Mike share what their lives were like with Theo from his birth, up until his devastating brain cancer diagnosis at age three.  SUNRISE is part 1 of a 3 part series. This episode is highly emotional and may be inapp...

Welcome to the Worst Club Ever - the club of people who have lost a child. Join bereaved mom and licensed psychotherapist Allie Kramer as she sets out to rebuild her life after the loss of her 4-year-old son to brain cancer. She'll be talking to experts in grief, trauma, medicine, and of course, other bereaved parents, trying to figure out how to tend to our wounded hearts and find a way forw...