A Body Rebels: A Chronic Illness Podcast

Living with chronic illness changes what an ordinary to-do list means. My iPhone reminders might show a phone call, an errand, or a message, while leaving out the fatigue, brain fog, symptoms, recovery time, and decisions surrounding each task. In this episode, I look at chronic illness and productivity through the unfinished reminders waiting on my phone, and why a list never tells the whole story of what I did with my day.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

I canceled my lung transplant evaluation after months of research, prayer, and conversations with my wife, but I still want active medical care. Living with sarcoidosis and heart failure has made treatment decisions deeply personal, especially when recovery would ask so much of both of us. In this episode, I share why I declined the evaluation, my fear of being misunderstood by my doctors, and the care I still want as I look toward my future.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

In this episode of A Body Re-bells: A Chronic Illness Podcast, I respond to a listener living with pulmonary sarcoidosis, depression, family estrangement, and the loss of friendships after diagnosis. I talk about what friendship looks like when illness stops being temporary, why suicidal thoughts deserve immediate professional support, and what happened when one of my own friendships ended after I revealed how sick I was. I also share what twenty years with sarcoidosis taught me about accepting when some people are unable to handle serious illness.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

On A Body Re-bells: A Chronic Illness Podcast, I tell the story of an injured mouse and Prince, my strong old cat who refused to look old. Prince was already in his late teens when our strange nighttime rescue unfolded. He later lived to twenty-one, staying strong through his final day. His goodbye changed how I remember the mouse and how I think about my own life. After twenty years with sarcoidosis, I find myself thinking less about looking brave and more about staying myself, remaining independent, and holding on to the life I value for as long as possible.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

I’ve spent much of my life becoming good at things, from school to culinary training to massage work, yet skill never answered a harder question for me: what do I love for myself? Chronic illness filled so much of my time with appointments, symptoms, tests, refills, and research, I lost touch with parts of myself unrelated to survival. In this episode, I look back at old interests, childhood dreams, and music, then explain why learning piano now feels less like another goal and more like finding something personal again.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

In my one hundredth episode, I end up in the emergency room after seeing blood in my urine during Labor Day weekend. I walk through the way I handled the night, from researching possible causes to arriving with twenty years of medical history ready on my phone. Somewhere between the CT scan and my medication list, I recognize a familiar pattern. Chronic illness taught me to prepare, anticipate problems, and reduce uncertainty. Those habits serve me well in medicine. I’m starting to see what happens when I carry them everywhere else.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

My health has reached a point where pushing through no longer works. In this short episode, I explain why I’m ending Season Four early and taking the rest of September away from the podcast. I need my limited energy for treatment, appointments, symptoms, and the work of getting through each day. I also need space to experience this difficult period without turning every part of it into something productive. I’ll return at the end of September to begin Season Five with more stories from life inside a rebellious body.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

In this episode of A Body Rebels: A Chronic Illness Podcast, I talk about exercise while living with heart failure, sarcoidosis, and severe fatigue after movement. A walk feels good while I’m outside, then the real cost shows up at home through heavy legs, harder breathing, a shower, and the need to lie down. I still want movement in my life. I also need enough energy for my private-chef work and the rest of my day. I’m learning to treat recovery as part of movement instead of proof I failed.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

In this episode, I’m talking about ambiguous loss and the private grief of missing the person I was before chronic illness changed my body. An old pair of shoes, a photograph, or even a heavy kitchen tool can bring that earlier life rushing back. I explore how illness has changed my independence, work, relationships, and identity, and why accepting my current body doesn’t require me to erase who I used to be, deny what I’ve lost, or pretend I’m grateful for every change.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research 

I’m sharing what happened when a limping black bear crossed the road in front of me on a quiet drive through rural Connecticut. Watching that injured animal continue into the woods brought my own experience with chronic illness into sharper focus. I’ve spent years measuring strength by what I could once do, how quickly I could move, and how well I could hide the struggle. That bear gave me another way to look at determination, physical limitations, acceptance, and the careful steps required to keep living in a body that has changed.

This podcast is narrated using an AI voice. The words, reflections, and lived experience are my own.

Contact A Body Rebels

More info about Sarcoidosis and to donate toward research: The Foundation For Sarcoidosis Research