Myra Sack and her husband Matt were very lucky. They had fallen in love with the right person, had work they were deeply committed to and had a new baby. Into the middle of their charmed life came the worst possible news; their perfect daughter had Tay-Sachs disease. She would live a very short life. A mistake in the testing they had received for Tay-Sachs blindsighted them. Reeling from the news and immersed in the question of how they could possibly live out this time, they decided they would celebrate Havi every day of her life. And every Friday they would gather friends and family in their home for Shabbirthday. They would love her and cherish her and hold her as if each Friday was both a holy shabbat and a wonderful birthday party. They had no way to imagine how they would grieve her, but they decided to live fully with her as long as they could with whoever also wanted to grace this beautiful child with their love. And with that simple promise, they found a way to put one foot after the other.

Myra Sack is a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care Provider through the MISS Foundation and founder of E-motion, Inc., a non-profit organization on a mission to ensure community is a right for grieving people. Her recently released book, 57 Fridays- Losing our daughter, finding our way, shares the story of Havi, her first child, who was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease at 15 months old. She died a little over a year later, after changing everyone who loved her through that deep, crushing and meaningful time. Subsequent to this interiew, Myra founded E-Motion, a non-profit dedicated to bringing grievers together to walk, run and share. Myra lives with Matthew Goldstein and their two other children in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

In honor of the publication of his new book, Never Can Say Goodbye, we replay this episode.

Darnell Lamont Walker makes it his life's mission to seed joy everywhere he is. How do his callings intersect? He is a children's television writer, a death doula, a filmmaker. In every case he hopes to inform, encourage and uplift his audience. In the end, all he does is about supporting everyone he encounters to heal, to make room for joy and to love ourselves. Join us as we talk about how he sees his mission and all the things he does to further it!

Darnell Lament Walker is an Emmy-Nominated children's television writer who understands the power of representation and joy, creating content in hopes that all children get the opportunity to not only see themselves, but see how incredible they are and can be. Darnell has written for outstanding shows, including PBS Kids' Work It Out Wombats!, Netflix's Karma's World, and Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues & You. He's a death doula, helping individuals and communities move through grief and toward healing and happiness. His new book, Never Can Say Goodbye, captures his experience as a death doula. Currently living between the Chattahoochee National Forest of Georgia and Johannesburg, South Africa, Darnell's goal with his work is to continue to support children, adults, and whole communities around the world through the building of safe and happy spaces.

Cheryl Krauter and her husband, John, assumed she would die first. After all, she had lived through an aggressive breast cancer diagnosis that challenged her resilience and health. But then it was him, suddenly, with no warning at all. His heart attack killed him in under five minutes. Taken to her knees but relying on the tools she had relied on to navigate cancer and every other challenge in her life, Cheryl acknowledged her experience, noticed what seemed to help her, and looked for the power in her own experience, including magic serendipity. Months after his death, he won the fly fishing trip in the yearly raffle he had tried for years to win. Now she would take the trip to honor him while grappling with how to move forward.

Cheryl Krauter, MFT an Existential Humanistic psychotherapist with over 40 years of experience in the field of depth psychology and human consciousness. With her background in theater arts, working with performing artists, visual artists and creative people has inspired her. She works with people who have been diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, their partners, family members, and caregivers. She has published two books on cancer: Surviving the Storm: A Workbook for Telling Your Cancer Story (Oxford University Press 2017) and Psychosocial Care of Cancer Survivors: A Clinician's Guide and Workbook for Providing Wholehearted Care (Oxford University Press 2018). Her book Odyssey of Ashes: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Letting Go (She Writes Press 2021) was released on July 20, 2021. She is a contributor to Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis: Women Writers Respond to the Call (She Writes Press, July 2022) and a contributor to Loss and Grief: Personal Stories of Doctors and Other Healthcare Professionals (Oxford University Press, August 2022.)

She was given the Distinguished Public Service Aware by the American Psychosocial Oncology Society in 2022.